Sleepiness is a common complaint during the night shift and may impair performance. The current study aims to identify bio-psycho-social factors associated with subjective sleepiness during the night shift. Ninety-two female nurses working rotating shifts completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Munich ChronoType Questionaire for shift workers, the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index, and the Pre-sleep Arousal Scale. Subjective sleepiness was measured hourly during two night shifts using the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, and activity monitors assessed sleep duration 24-h before each shift. Findings showed that increased sleepiness was associated with increased age in nurses with early chronotypes and with more children. High cognitive pre-sleep arousal, but not sleep, was associated with increased sleepiness, especially in late chronotypes. The impact of bio-psycho-social factors on night shift sleepiness is complex, and depends on mutual interactions between these factors. Nurses most prone to increased sleepiness must develop personal strategies for maintaining vigilance on the night shift. Practitioner Summary: This study aims to identify bio-psycho-social factors associated with subjective sleepiness of female nurses during the night shift. Increasing sleepiness was associated with increased age in nurses with early chronotypes and with more children. Increased cognitive pre-sleep arousal, but not sleep, was associated with increased sleepiness, especially in late chronotypes.

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The aim of this study was to compare permanent 12-hour day and night shifts (shift change over times at 0500 and 1700) in a shift system with 3 work periods followed by 4 free days. Sleep diaries were collected after main periods of sleep, and sleepiness ratings [Karolinska sleepiness scale (KSS)] were obtained 4 times during the last free day and also during the following 3 workshifts. Eighteen to twenty night workers and 8-10 day workers (depending on the instrument) participated. The day workers were significantly sleepier during their workdays. Times for going to bed and for rising differed between the groups. The amount of sleep per week did not differ between groups, but the pattern across days did in that the day workers had a short sleep (5 hours) before the first day and 6 hours of sleep after the other two. Night workers slept long (9 hours) before the first shift and had 6.5-hour sleep periods after the other shifts. During free time the day workers slept around 9 hours and the night workers around 8 hours. Sleep quality and ease of awakening showed no group differences in overall levels, but the day workers had difficulties awakening before their shifts. The night workers had little variation in sleep quality or difficulties awakening. The suggested explanation for the greater sleepiness and difficulties awakening among the day workers was the early start of the shift and the difficulties the workers had with phase advancing their sleep-wake rhythm.

The link between decrease in levels of attention and total sleep deprivation is well known but the respective contributions of slow wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement sleep (REM) is still largely unknown. The aim of this study was to characterize the effects of sleep deprivation during the SWS phase (i.e., earlynight sleep) and the REM phase (i.e., late night sleep) on tasks that tap automatic and selective attention; these two forms of attention were indexed respectively by "mismatch negativity" (MMN) and "negative difference" (Nd) event-related potential (ERP) difference waves. Ten young adult participants were subjected to a three-night sleep protocol. They were each received one night of full sleep (F), one night of sleep deprivation during the first half of the night (H1), and one night of sleep deprivation during the second half of the night (H2). MMN and Nd were recorded the following morning of each night during two auditory oddball tasks that tapped automatic and selective attention. The effect of sleep deprivation condition was assessed using ERP amplitude measures and standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography method (sLORETA). ERP results revealed significant MMN amplitude reduction over frontal and temporal recording areas following the H2 night compared to F and H1, indicating reductions in levels of automatic attention. In addition, Nd amplitude over the parietal recording area was significantly increased following the H2 night compared to F and H1. sLORETA findings show significant changes from F to H2 night in frontal cortex activity, decreasing during the automatic attention task but increasing during the selective attention task. No significant change in brain activity is observed after H1 night. The restoration of attention processes is mainly achieved during REM sleep, which confirms results from previous studies in rat models. The anterior cortex seems to be more sensitive to sleep loss, while the parietal cortex acts as a

Extended nap opportunities have been effective in maintaining alertness in the context of extended night shifts (+12 h). However, there is limited evidence of their efficacy during 8-h shifts. Thus, this study explored the effects of extended naps on cognitive, physiological and perceptual responses during four simulated, 8-h night shifts. In a laboratory setting, 32 participants were allocated to one of three conditions. All participants completed four consecutive, 8-h night shifts, with the arrangements differing by condition. The fixed night condition worked from 22h00 to 06h00, while the nap early group worked from 20h00 to 08h00 and napped between 00h00 and 03h20. The nap late group worked from 00h00 to 12h00 and napped between 04h00 and 07h20. Nap length was limited to 3 hours and 20 minutes. Participants performed a simple beading task during each shift, while also completing six to eight test batteries roughly every 2 h. During each shift, six test batteries were completed, in which the following measures were taken. Performance indicators included beading output, eye accommodation time, choice reaction time, visual vigilance, simple reaction time, processing speed and object recognition, working memory, motor response time and tracking performance. Physiological measures included heart rate and tympanic temperature, whereas subjective sleepiness and reported sleep length and quality while outside the laboratory constituted the self reported measures. Both naps reduced subjective sleepiness but did not alter the circadian and homeostatic-related changes in cognitive and physiological measures, relative to the fixed night condition. Additionally, there was evidence of sleep inertia following each nap, which resulted in transient reductions in certain perceptual cognitive performance measures. The present study suggested that there were some benefits associated with including an extended nap during 8-h night shifts. However, the effects of sleep inertia

This simulated night shift study measured the effects of moderate bright light (a 4-hour pulse starting at 2000 or 0400) during the exposure night and subsequent night (dim light). Eight young males remained confined with little physical activity to a laboratory in groups of 4. After a night of reference, they were active for 24 hours; then after a morning recovery sleep, they were active again for 16 hours. Continuously measured rectal temperature proved to be immediately sensitive to 4 hours of bright light, particularly when given at the end of the night. Self-assessed alertness and also performance on a task with a high requirement for short-term memory were improved by the exposure to bright light. During the subsequent night the subjects were exposed only to dim light. Core temperature, subjective alertness and performance continued to show a time course depending on the preceding bright light exposure. Probably because evening exposure to bright light and morning sleep both had a phase-delaying effect, the effects on the circadian pacemaker were more pronounced. Thus, for practical applications in long night shifts, bright light can be considered to improve mood and alertness immediately but the possibility of modifying the circadian "clock" during subsequent nights should be taken into consideration, in particular after exposure to bright light in the evening.

The Night Eating Syndrome (NES) is a disorder characterized by the clinical features of morning anorexia, evening hyperphagia, and insomnia with awakenings followed by nocturnal food ingestion. The core clinical feature appears to be a delay in the circadian timing of food intake. The diagnosis and early treatment of NES may represent an important means of prevention for obesity. Aims. The aim of the present study was to determine the vulnerability to develop NES between a clinical sample of patients with psychiatric disorders and a non clinical sample. We investigated a possible relation between stress and a dysfunctional eating behaviors as NES. Methods. The Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ) has been administered to 147 psychiatric outpatients and to 531 subjects attending the University of L'Aquila. The NEQ is a questionnaire used to evaluate the prevalence of NES. The sample has been also evaluated through the Stress-related Vulnerability Scale (SVS) to measure both perceived stress and social support. Results. The 8.2% of patients scored above the diagnostic cut-off of the NEQ, compared to the 2.1% in the sample of healthy subjects. The majority of patients who had shown NEQ>25 had a diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD). The total scores on the NEQ were strongly associated with the SVS total score and especially with the "lack of social support" subscale. Conclusions. This study shows the increased vulnerability of NES in the sample of psychiatric patients compared to the sample of healthy subjects. The study further confirms the strong association between perceived stress, social support, altered eating behaviors and obesity.

Early experiences produce effects that may persist throughout life. Therefore, to understand adult phenotype, it is important to investigate the role of early environmental stimuli in adult behavior and health. Artificial light at night (LAN) is an increasingly common phenomenon throughout the world. However, animals, including humans, evolved under dark night conditions. Many studies have revealed affective, immune, and metabolic alterations provoked by aberrant light exposure and subsequent circadian disruption. Pups are receptive to entraining cues from the mother and then light early during development, raising the possibility that the early life light environment may influence subsequent behavior. Thus, to investigate potential influences of early life exposure to LAN on adult phenotype, we exposed mice to dim (~5 lux; full spectrum white light) or dark (~0 lux) nights pre- and/or postnatally. After weaning at 3 weeks of age, all mice were maintained in dark nights until adulthood (9 weeks of age) when behavior was assessed. Mice exposed to dim light in early life increased anxiety-like behavior and fearful responses on the elevated plus maze and passive avoidance tests. These mice also displayed reduced growth rates, which ultimately normalized during adolescence. mRNA expression of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a neurotrophin previously linked to early life environment and adult phenotype, was not altered in the prefrontal cortex or hippocampus by early life LAN exposure. Serum corticosterone concentrations were similar between groups at weaning, suggesting that early life LAN does not elicit a long-term physiologic stress response. Dim light exposure did not influence behavior on the open field, novel object, sucrose anhedonia, or forced swim tests. Our data highlight the potential deleterious consequences of low levels of light during early life to development and subsequent behavior. Whether these changes are due to altered maternal behavior

Light pollution has become a social and health issue. We performed an experimental study to investigate impact of dim light at night (dLAN) on sleep in female subjects, with measurement of salivary melatonin. The 25 female subjects (Group A: 12; Group B: 13 subjects) underwent a nocturnal polysomnography (NPSG) session with no light (Night 1) followed by an NPSG session randomly assigned to two conditions (Group A: 5; Group B: 10 lux) during a whole night of sleep (Night 2). Salivary melatonin was measured before and after sleep on each night. For further investigation, the female and male subjects of our previous study were collected (48 subjects), and differences according to gender were compared. dLAN during sleep was significantly associated with decreased total sleep time (TST; F=4.818, p=0.039), sleep efficiency (SE; F=5.072, p=0.034), and Stage R latency (F=4.664, p=0.041) for female subjects, and decreased TST (F=14.971, p<0.001) and SE (F=7.687, p=0.008), and increased wake time after sleep onset (F=6.322, p=0.015) and Stage R (F=5.031, p=0.03), with a night-group interaction (F=4.579, p=0.038) for total sample. However, no significant melatonin changes. There was no significant gender difference of the impact of dLAN on sleep, showing the negative changes in the amount and quality of sleep and the increase in REM sleep in the both gender group under 10 lux condition. We found a negative impact of exposure to dLAN on sleep in female as well as in merged subjects. REM sleep showed a pronounced increase under 10 lux than under 5 lux in merged subjects, suggesting the possibility of subtle influences of dLAN on REM sleep.

We have performed cerebral near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and polysomnography (electro-encephalography, electro-oculography, electro-myography, pulse oximetry, and respiratory monitoring) during all-night sleep in five human subjects. Polysomnography data were used for sleep staging, while NIRS data were used to measure the concentration and the oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in the frontal brain region. Immediately after sleep onset we observed a decrease in the cerebral concentration of oxy-hemoglobin ([HbO2]) and an increase in the concentration of deoxy-hemoglobin ([Hb]), consistent with a decrease in the cerebral blood flow velocity or an increase in cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen. An opposite trend (increase in [HbO2] and decrease in [Hb]) was usually observed after transition to deep sleep (stages III and IV). During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, we observed an increase in [HbO2] and decrease in [Hb], consistent with an increase in the cerebral blood flow that overcompensates the increase in the metabolic rate of oxygen associated with REM sleep.

Aging is associated with dramatic reductions in sleep continuity and sleep intensity. Since gaboxadol, a selective GABA(A) receptor agonist, has been demonstrated to improve sleep consolidation and promote deep sleep, it may be an effective hypnotic, particularly for elderly patients with insomnia. In the present study, we investigated the effects of subchronic gaboxadol administration on nocturnal sleep and its residual effects during the next days in elderly subjects. This was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, balanced crossover study in 10 healthy elderly subjects without sleep complaints. The subjects were administered either placebo or 15 mg gaboxadol hydrochloride at bedtime on three consecutive nights. Sleep was recorded during each night from 2300 to 0700 h and tests assessing attention (target detection, stroop test) and memory function (visual form recognition, immediate word recall, digit span) were applied at 0900, 1400, and 1700 h during the following days. Compared with placebo, gaboxadol significantly shortened subjective sleep onset latency and increased self-rated sleep intensity and quality. Polysomnographic recordings showed that it significantly decreased the number of awakenings, the amount of intermittent wakefulness, and stage 1, and increased slow wave sleep and stage 2. These effects were stable over the three nights. None of the subjects reported side effects. Next-day cognitive performance was not affected by gaboxadol. Gaboxadol persistently improved subjective and objective sleep quality and was devoid of residual effects. Thus, at the employed dose, it seems an effective hypnotic in elderly subjects.

Study Objectives: Spontaneous saliva swallows (SS) appear especially during sleep. The rate of SS was rarely investigated in all-night sleep in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). Dysphagia is a frequent symptom in PD, but the rate of SS was never studied with an all-night sleep electroencephalogram (EEG). Methods: A total of 21 patients with PD and 18 age-matched healthy controls were included in the study. Frequencies of SS and coughing were studied in all-night sleep recordings of patients with PD and controls. During all-night sleep, video-EEG 12-channel recording was used including the electromyography (EMG) of the swallowing muscles, nasal airflow, and recording of vertical laryngeal movement using a pair of EEG electrodes over the thyroid cartilage. Results: The total number of SS was increased while the mean duration of sleep was decreased in PD when compared to controls. Sialorrhea and clinical dysphagia, assessed by proper questionnaires, had no effect in any patient group. The new finding was the so-called salvo type of consecutive SS in one set of swallowing. The amount of coughing was significantly increased just after the salvo SS. Conclusions: In PD, the rate of SS was not sufficient to demonstrate the swallowing disorder, such as oropharyngeal dysphagia, but the salvo type of SS was quite frequent. This is a novel finding and may contribute to the understanding of swallowing problems in patients with dysphagic or nondysphagic PD. Citation: Uludag IF, Tiftikcioglu BI, Ertekin C. Spontaneous swallowing during all-night sleep in patients with Parkinson disease in comparison with healthy control subjects. SLEEP 2016;39(4):847–854. PMID:26943467

Management for early onset scoliosis has recently changed, with the development of new surgical procedures. However, multiple surgeries are often required and high complication rates are still reported. Conservative management remains an alternative, serial casting achieving excellent results in young children. Better compliance and improvement over natural history have been reported with night-time bracing in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), but this treatment has never been reported in early onset idiopathic scoliosis (EIOS). All patients treated for progressive EOIS by detorsion night-time bracing (DNB), and meeting the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) criteria for brace studies were reviewed. Recommendations were given to wear the DNB 8h/night and no restriction was given regarding sports activities. Radiological parameters were compared between referral and latest follow-up. Based on the SRS criteria defined for AIS, a similar classification was used as follows to analyze the course of the curves: success group: patients with a progression of 5° or less; unsuccess group (progression or failure): patients with a progression>5°, patients with curves exceeding 45° at maturity, or who have had recommendation for/undergone surgery, or patients who changed orthopaedic treatment, or who were lost to follow-up. Thirty-three patients were included (21 girls and 12 boys), with a median Cobb angle of 31° (Q1-Q3: 22-40). Age at brace initiation averaged 50months (Q1-Q3: 25-60). Median follow-up was 102-months (Q1-Q3: 63-125). Fifteen patients (45.5%) had reached skeletal maturity at last follow-up. The success rate was 67% (22 patients), with a median Cobb angle reduction of 15° (P<0.001). Four patients stopped DNB due to an important regression. Eleven patients were in the unsuccessful group (33%). Only one had surgery. All patients remained balanced in the frontal plane and normokyphotic. Initial curve magnitude and age at brace initiation appeared to be

This study aims to examine kindergarten children's mental models of the day and night cycle and provide implications for pedagogical practices targeting space science concepts in early childhood classrooms. A total of 46 kindergartners participated in the study, their age ranging from 60 to 75 months, including 22 boys and 24 girls.…

Sleep has proven to support the memory consolidation in many tasks including learning of perceptual skills. Explicit, conscious types of memory have been demonstrated to benefit particularly from slow-wave sleep (SWS), implicit, non-conscious types particularly from rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. By comparing the effects of early-night sleep,…

Used data from Pennsylvania Early Adolescent Transitions Study to assess how objective physical attractiveness (PA), indexed by appraisals from others, and subjective PA, indexed by self-appraisals, related to each other and to early adolescent adjustment. Findings indicated low relationship between objective and subjective PA; only subjective PA…

Sleep has proven to support the memory consolidation in many tasks including learning of perceptual skills. Explicit, conscious types of memory have been demonstrated to benefit particularly from slow-wave sleep (SWS), implicit, non-conscious types particularly from rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. By comparing the effects of early-night sleep, rich in SWS, and late-night sleep, rich in REM sleep, we aimed to separate the contribution of these two sleep stages in a metacontrast masking paradigm in which explicit and implicit aspects in perceptual learning could be assessed separately by stimulus identification and priming, respectively. We assumed that early sleep intervening between two sessions of task performance would specifically support stimulus identification, while late sleep would specifically support priming. Apart from overt behavior, event-related EEG potentials (ERPs) were measured to record the cortical mechanisms associated with behavioral changes across sleep. In contrast to our hypothesis, late-night sleep appeared to be more important for changes of behavior, both for stimulus identification, which tended to improve across late-night sleep, and for priming, with the increase of errors induced by masked stimuli correlating with the duration of REM sleep. ERP components proved sensitive to presence of target shapes in the masked stimuli and to their priming effects. Of these components, the N2 component, indicating processing of conflict, became larger across early-night sleep and was related to the duration of S4 sleep, the deepest substage of SWS containing particularly high portions of EEG slow waves. These findings suggest that sleep promotes perceptual learning primarily by its REM sleep portion, but indirectly also by way of improved action monitoring supported by deep slow-wave sleep.

To analyze in detail the frequency content of the different EEG components of the Cyclic Alternating Pattern (CAP), taking into account the ongoing EEG background and the nonCAP (NCAP) periods in the whole night polysomnographic recordings of normal young adults. Sixteen normal healthy subjects were included in this study. Each subject underwent one polysomnographic night recording; sleep stages were scored following standard criteria. Subsequently, each CAP A phase was detected in all recordings, during NREM sleep, and classified into 3 subtypes (A1, A2, and A3). The same channel used for the detection of CAP A phases (C3/A2 or C4/A1) was subdivided into 2-s mini-epochs. For each mini-epoch, the corresponding CAP condition was determined and power spectra calculated in the frequency range 0.5-25 Hz. Average spectra were obtained for each CAP condition, separately in sleep stage 2 and SWS, for each subject. Finally, the first 6h of sleep were subdivided into 4 periods of 90 min each and the same spectral analysis was performed for each period. During sleep stage 2, CAP A subtypes differed from NCAP periods for all frequency bins between 0.5 and 25 Hz; this difference was most evident for the lowest frequencies. The B phase following A1 subtypes had a power spectrum significantly higher than that of NCAP, for frequencies between 1 and 11 Hz. The B phase after A2 only differed from NCAP for a small but significant reduction in the sigma band power; this was evident also after A3 subtypes. During SWS, we found similar results. The comparison between the different CAP subtypes also disclosed significant differences related to the stage in which they occurred. Finally, a significant effect of the different sleep periods was found on the different CAP subtypes during sleep stage 2 and on NCAP in both sleep stage 2 and SWS. CAP subtypes are characterized by clearly different spectra and also the same subtype shows a different power spectrum, during sleep stage 2 or SWS

Symptoms Night sweats By Mayo Clinic Staff Night sweats are repeated episodes of extreme perspiration that may soak your nightclothes or ... these episodes are usually not labeled as night sweats and typically aren't a sign of a ...

In patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is usually initiated in an in-hospital regime. We investigated if NIV initiated in an outpatient setting can be as effective in terms of patients' acceptance/adherence. We also evaluated factors predicting NIV acceptance and adherence and disease progression. Prospective randomized study. Outpatient versus inpatient rehabilitation. ALS patients. ALS patients were randomized to two groups for NIV initiation: outpatients versus inpatients. At baseline (T0), end of NIV trial program (T1) and after 3 months from T1 (T2), respiratory function tests, blood gas analysis, and sleep study were performed. At T1, we assessed: NIV acceptance (>4 h/night), and dyspnea symptoms (day/night) by Visual analogue scale (VAS), staff and patients' experience (how difficult NIV was to accept, how difficult ventilator was to manage, satisfaction); at T2: NIV adherence (>120 h/month) and patients' experience. Fifty patients participated. There were no differences in acceptance failure (P=0.733) or adherence failure (P=0.529). At T1, outpatients had longer hours of nocturnal ventilation (P<0.02), at T2 this was similar (P=0.34). Female gender and spinal onset of the disease were predictors for NIV acceptance/adherence failure. There were no between-group differences in progression of respiratory impairment, symptoms and sleep quality. Early outpatient initiation of NIV in ALS is as effective as inpatient initiation.

Night sweats are a common outpatient complaint, yet literature on the subject is scarce. Tuberculosis and lymphoma are diseases in which night sweats are a dominant symptom, but these are infrequently found to be the cause of night sweats in modern practice. While these diseases remain important diagnostic considerations in patients with night sweats, other diagnoses to consider include human immunodeficiency virus, gastroesophageal reflux disease, obstructive sleep apnea, hyperthyroidism, hypoglycemia, and several less common diseases. Antihypertensives, antipyretics, other medications, and drugs of abuse such as alcohol and heroin may cause night sweats. Serious causes of night sweats can be excluded with a thorough history, physical examination, and directed laboratory and radiographic studies. If a history and physical do not reveal a possible diagnosis, physicians should consider a purified protein derivative, complete blood count, human immunodeficiency virus test, thyroid-stimulating hormone test, erythrocyte sedimentation rate evaluation, chest radiograph, and possibly chest and abdominal computed tomographic scans and bone marrow biopsy.

1. Seven solitary subjects, and two groups of four, spent from 5 to 13 days in an isolation unit without knowledge of time. Three solitary subjects and one group of four adopted fairly regular activity habits with a period of 25-27 h; one subject adopted a period of 30 h, and one of 27 h initially, decreasing to 24-25 h after a few days. One group of four awoke roughly every 24 h, after a sleep which was alternately about 8 h, or about 4 h and believed by the subjects to be an afternoon siesta. Two solitary subjects alternated sleeps of about 8 or 16 h, separated by 24 h of activity. 2. Deep temperature in all subjects oscillated with a period of 24-26 h, which was thus commonly distinct from their activity habits. 3. Urinary potassium followed a rhythm whose period, though usually close to, was sometimes distinct from, that of temperature. A secondary period corresponding to that of activity was also sometimes present. 4. Urinary sodium and chloride usually gave evidence of two periodic components, one corresponding to activity and the other to the rhythm of either temperature or of urinary potassium. 5. Urinary creatinine and phosphate usually followed the subject's routine of activity. 6. Plasma samples were collected on a few occasions and analysed for phosphate and 11-hydroxycorticosteroids. Changes in plasma phosphate were usually, but not always, associated with similar changes in urinary phosphate, and changes in plasma corticosteroids were often, but not always, associated with similar changes in urinary potassium shortly afterwards. 7. Observations are recorded on a subject alone in a cave for 127 days. His activity habits, though wildly variable, gave evidence of a period of 25·1 h and his urinary electrolyte excretion indicated a shorter period, of 24·6 h. During the following 3 days, when he remained in the cave but was visited frequently, his plasma corticosteroids and urinary potassium oscillated with a period of 16 h. 8. The possible mechanisms

This study sought to examine predictors of subjective/objective sleep discrepancy in poor sleepers. Forty-two individuals with insomnia symptoms (mean age = 36.2 years, 81% female) were recruited to take part in a prospective study which combined seven days of actigraphy with daily assessment of sleep perceptions, self-reported arousal, sleep effort, and mood upon awakening. A high level of intra-individual variability in measures of sleep discrepancy was observed. Multilevel modelling revealed that higher levels of pre-sleep cognitive activity and lower mood upon awakening were significantly and independently predictive of the underestimation of total sleep time. Greater levels of sleep effort predicted overestimation of sleep onset latency. These results indicate that psychophysiological variables are related to subjective/objective sleep discrepancy and may be important therapeutic targets in the management of insomnia. PMID:28282912

This paper presents an overview of research on sleep and noise at the Department of Environmental Hygiene, University of Gothenburg. Different methods were developed to study primary and after effects of night time road traffic noise on sleep. Three one-week laboratory experiments were undertaken to study the relevance of different noise descriptors— Leq, maximum peak noise level and number of events with high peak noise levels—for sleep disturbance effects. The noise exposure was either single noise evenys or a continuous, even road traffic noise. It was concluded that Leq was not related to sleep disturbance effects. Peak noise levels were significantly related to subjective sleep quality and body movements. Results from a third continuing study showed that there is a threshold for effects of the number of single noise events on sleep quality. Habituation to noise among subjects with differing noise sensitivity was studied in a two-week experiment. A significant noise effect on subjective sleep quality was found among sensitive subjects only. No habituation was seen for the negative influence of noise on sleep quality, mood and performance. Long-term effects of road traffic noise were also investigated in a field survey among 106 individuals. This study revealed the presence of a decrease in sleep quality as well as psycho-social effects on tiredness and mood, together with increased reports of headaches and nervous stomach. As in the laboratory study, sensitive individuals were more affected by noise than less sensitive individuals.

Objective: We clarified the relationship between the degree of subjective fatigue, sleep, and physical activity among nurses working 16-hour night shifts in a rotating two-shift system. Materials and Methods: We investigated 15 nurses who were surveyed regarding their individual attributes, physical activity level (consumed calories), hours of sleep, sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency, sleep diary, and subjective symptoms. Nurses wore a Fitbit One (Fitbit Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA) for 7 consecutive days to measure sleep and physical activity. Results: Results were analyzed for nine participants, excluding those who withdrew or had missing data. The years of nursing experience, nurses’ age, and the length of nocturnal awakening time of the high fatigue group were significantly longer than of the low fatigue group (p < .05). Years of nursing experience in the affiliated department of the high fatigue group was significantly shorter than of low fatigue group (p < .05). The number of nightshifts during the survey period was significantly higher in the high fatigue group than in the low fatigue group. Fatigue after work and body mass index (r = 0.46, p < .001), consumed calories (r = 0.30, p < .05), bedtime (r = –0.36, p < .05), and hours of sleep (r = –0.37, p < .01) were significantly correlated; however, the sleep indices were not correlated. Conclusion: We clarified that the degree of fatigue in nurses working 16-hour night shifts in a rotating two-shift system was related to individual factors, such as age, years of nursing experience, years of nursing experience in the affiliated department, number of nightshifts, and length of nocturnal awakening time. Nurses with greater fatigue had significant differences in their bedtime on days off and work days, which suggests that sleep rhythm may also affect fatigue.

Artificial light at night disturbs the daily rhythms of many organisms. To what extent this disturbance depends on the intensity and spectral composition of light remain obscure. Here, we measured daily activity patterns of captive blue tits ( Cyanistes caeruleus) exposed to similar intensities of green, red, or white light at night. Birds advanced their onset of activity in the morning under all light colors but more under red and white light than under green light. Offset of activity was slightly delayed in all light colors. The total activity over a 24-h period did not change but birds moved a part of their daily activity into the night. Since the effect of red and white lights are comparable, we tested the influence of light intensity in a follow-up experiment, where we compared the activity of the birds under different intensities of green and white light only. While in the higher range of intensities, the effects of white and green light were comparable; at lower intensities, green light had a less disturbing effect as compared with white light on daily rhythms in blue tits. Our results show that the extent of this disturbance can be mitigated by modulating the spectral characteristics and intensity of outdoor lighting, which is now feasible through the use of LED lighting.

This study compared the effects of a 1 h self-selected recovery period to those of a standard night shift arrangement (with a total break time of 1-h) over a simulated three-day night shift schedule in a laboratory setting. Results showed that the inclusion of the flexible nap scheme resulted in higher performance output, improvements in physiological strain responses and reduced sleepiness during each night shift and generally over the three-night cycle. Certain variables also revealed the impact of napping compared with the standard rest break condition on the circadian rhythm. The sleep diary records show that the inclusion of the current intervention did not significantly reduce daytime recovery sleep. The results suggest that the potential benefits of flexible napping may outweigh the logistical effort it requires in a workplace environment. Consensus on appropriate napping strategies for shift work remains a challenge. This simulated night shift laboratory study sought to determine the effects of a 1-h self-selected nap opportunity relative to a normal shift set-up. The nap improved performance and decreased sleepiness, without affecting daytime sleep.

This paper considers how young children in early childhood education draw on popular texts and consumer goods in their constitution of subjectivities and social relations. The paper draws on poststructuralist theories of subjectivity, agency, consumption and power, to explore how performative practices of consumption figure in the constitution of…

Vigilance usually deteriorates over prolonged driving at non-optimal times of day. Exposure to blue-enriched light has shown to enhance arousal, leading to behavioral benefits in some cognitive tasks. However, the cognitive effects of long-wavelength light have been less studied and its effects on driving performance remained to be addressed. We tested the effects of a blue-enriched white light (BWL) and a long-wavelength orange light (OL) vs. a control condition of dim light on subjective, physiological and behavioral measures at 21:45 h. Neurobehavioral tests included the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale and subjective mood scale, recording of distal-proximal temperature gradient (DPG, as index of physiological arousal), accuracy in simulated driving and reaction time in the auditory psychomotor vigilance task. The results showed that BWL decreased the DPG (reflecting enhanced arousal), while it did not improve reaction time or driving performance. Instead, blue light produced larger driving errors than OL, while performance in OL was stable along time on task. These data suggest that physiological arousal induced by light does not necessarily imply cognitive improvement. Indeed, excessive arousal might deteriorate accuracy in complex tasks requiring precision, such as driving. PMID:28690558

In recent years, several research subjects have told us that they had bought or intended to buy stock in the companies sponsoring the clinical trials in which they were enrolled. This situation has led us to ask what, if any, are physician-investigators' scientific, ethical, and legal responsibilities concerning research subjects who choose to buy stock in the companies sponsoring the clinical trials in which they are participating. Although the scope of this problem is unknown and is likely to be small, this commentary examines the scientific, ethical, and legal concerns raised by such activities on the part of research subjects enrolled in early phase clinical trials. In addition, this commentary also outlines the basis for our opinion that research subjects involved in an early phase clinical trial should avoid the financial conflicts of interest created by trading stock in the company sponsoring the clinical trial.

The development and manifestation of gratitude in youth is unclear. We examined the effects of a grateful outlook on subjective well-being and other outcomes of positive psychological functioning in 221 early adolescents. Eleven classes were randomly assigned to either a gratitude, hassles, or control condition. Results indicated that counting…

Recent studies indicate a circadian rhythm in blood pressure and heart rate and its association with various neurotransmitters. In the present study, we examine the circadian nature of blood pressure/heart rate and salivary cortisol in night shift workers and whether these circadian changes produced by night shifts are reversible. Sixteen healthy nurses of both genders, aged 20-40 years, performing day and night shift duties, were randomly selected out of 22 who volunteered for this study. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring was done in all the subjects and salivary cortisol levels were analyzed during both day and night shift duties. There were clinically significant changes in the Acrophase of blood pressure and cortisol levels, indicating ecphasia (odd timing of systolic blood pressure) individually during night as well as day shifts. However, this pattern was statistically not significant. A reverse pattern of Acrophase was observed in 8 out of 16 subjects when they were posted on day shift. No significant change was found in midline estimating statistics of rhythm (MESOR) of blood pressure values. Changes in Double amplitude (Predictable change) were observed in 8 subjects during night shifts as well as in 7 subjects during day shifts. However, the pattern was not similar and night workers had an altered circadian pattern in the night as well as during day shifts. Changes in Double amplitude, Acrophase and Salivary cortisol were found during night as well as day shifts but these changes were not statistically significant (p > 0.05) due to incomplete recovery during day shifts (changes again seen when they came back to day shifts). Salivary cortisol levels were lowest in early morning, increased at midnight and further increased in the afternoon during night shifts along with ecphasia. It is possible that nurses working the night shift felt more tired due to the altered circadian cycle.

To investigate the relationship between macular pigment (MP) and visual function in subjects with early age-related macular degeneration (AMD). 121 subjects with early AMD enrolled as part of the Central Retinal Enrichment Supplementation Trial (CREST; ISRCTN13894787) were assessed using a range of psychophysical measures of visual function, including best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), letter contrast sensitivity (CS), mesopic and photopic CS, mesopic and photopic glare disability (GD), photostress recovery time (PRT), reading performance and subjective visual function, using the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (NEI VFQ-25). MP was measured using customised heterochromatic flicker photometry. Letter CS, mesopic and photopic CS, photopic GD and mean reading speed were each significantly (p<0.05) associated with MP across a range of retinal eccentricities, and these statistically significant relationships persisted after controlling for age, sex and cataract grade. BCVA, NEI VFQ-25 score, PRT and mesopic GD were unrelated to MP after controlling for age, sex and cataract grade (p>0.05, for all). MP relates positively to many measures of visual function in unsupplemented subjects with early AMD. The CREST trial will investigate whether enrichment of MP influences visual function among those afflicted with this condition. ISRCTN13894787. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

.... Nos. 1-1] Night Definition; Technical Amendment AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT. ACTION... Canada. In 14 CFR 1.1 the definition of night refers to twilight times as published in the ``American Air... make the amendment effective in less than 30 days. List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 1 Air transportation...

Pavor nocturnus; Sleep terror disorder ... The cause is unknown, but night terrors may be triggered by: Fever Lack of sleep Periods of emotional tension, stress, or conflict Night terrors are most common in children ...

Sick children were ubiquitous in early modern England, and yet they have received very little attention from historians. Taking the elusive perspective of the child, this article explores the physical, emotional, and spiritual experience of illness in England between approximately 1580 and 1720. What was it like being ill and suffering pain? How did the young respond emotionally to the anticipation of death? It is argued that children’s experiences were characterised by profound ambivalence: illness could be terrifying and distressing, but also a source of emotional and spiritual fulfilment and joy. This interpretation challenges the common assumption amongst medical historians that the experiences of early modern patients were utterly miserable. It also sheds light on children’s emotional feelings for their parents, a subject often overlooked in the historiography of childhood. The primary sources used in this article include diaries, autobiographies, letters, the biographies of pious children, printed possession cases, doctors’ casebooks, and theological treatises concerning the afterlife. PMID:21461308

Hyperprolactinaemia, a common side effect of some antipsychotic drugs, is also present in drug-naïve psychotic patients and subjects at risk for psychosis. Recent studies in non-psychiatric populations suggest that increased prolactin may have negative effects on cognition. The aim of our study was to explore whether high plasma prolactin levels are associated with poorer cognitive functioning in subjects with early psychoses. We studied 107 participants: 29 healthy subjects and 78 subjects with an early psychosis (55 psychotic disorders with <3 years of illness, 23 high-risk subjects). Cognitive assessment was performed with the MATRICS Cognitive Consensus Cognitive Battery, and prolactin levels were determined as well as total cortisol levels in plasma. Psychopathological status was assessed and the use of psychopharmacological treatments (antipsychotics, antidepressants, benzodiazepines) recorded. Prolactin levels were negatively associated with cognitive performance in processing speed, in patients with a psychotic disorder and high-risk subjects. In the latter group, increased prolactin levels were also associated with impaired reasoning and problem solving and poorer general cognition. In a multiple linear regression analysis conducted in both high-risk and psychotic patients, controlling for potential confounders, prolactin and benzodiazepines were independently related to poorer cognitive performance in the speed of processing domain. A mediation analysis showed that both prolactin and benzodiazepine treatment act as mediators of the relationship between risperidone/paliperidone treatment and speed of processing. These results suggest that increased prolactin levels are associated with impaired processing speed in early psychosis. If these results are confirmed in future studies, strategies targeting reduction of prolactin levels may improve cognition in this population. PMID:24586772

Hyperprolactinaemia, a common side effect of some antipsychotic drugs, is also present in drug-naïve psychotic patients and subjects at risk for psychosis. Recent studies in non-psychiatric populations suggest that increased prolactin may have negative effects on cognition. The aim of our study was to explore whether high plasma prolactin levels are associated with poorer cognitive functioning in subjects with early psychoses. We studied 107 participants: 29 healthy subjects and 78 subjects with an early psychosis (55 psychotic disorders with <3 years of illness, 23 high-risk subjects). Cognitive assessment was performed with the MATRICS Cognitive Consensus Cognitive Battery, and prolactin levels were determined as well as total cortisol levels in plasma. Psychopathological status was assessed and the use of psychopharmacological treatments (antipsychotics, antidepressants, benzodiazepines) recorded. Prolactin levels were negatively associated with cognitive performance in processing speed, in patients with a psychotic disorder and high-risk subjects. In the latter group, increased prolactin levels were also associated with impaired reasoning and problem solving and poorer general cognition. In a multiple linear regression analysis conducted in both high-risk and psychotic patients, controlling for potential confounders, prolactin and benzodiazepines were independently related to poorer cognitive performance in the speed of processing domain. A mediation analysis showed that both prolactin and benzodiazepine treatment act as mediators of the relationship between risperidone/paliperidone treatment and speed of processing. These results suggest that increased prolactin levels are associated with impaired processing speed in early psychosis. If these results are confirmed in future studies, strategies targeting reduction of prolactin levels may improve cognition in this population.

Aboriginal Australians have been viewing the night skies of Australia for some 45,000 years and possibly much longer. During this time they have been able to develop a complex knowledge of the night sky, the terrestrial environment in addition to seasonal changes. However, few of us in contemporary society have an in-depth knowledge of the nightly waltz of stars above.

This book offers clear and practical guidelines to help engage families in student success. It shows families how to conduct a successful Family Reading Night at their school. Family Night themes include Scary Stories, Books We Love, Reading Olympics, Dr. Seuss, and other themes. Family reading nights invite parents to come to school with their…

Driving in the early morning is associated with increased accident risk affecting not only professional drivers but also those who commute to work. The present study used a driving simulator to investigate the effects of driving home from a night shift. Ten shift workers participated after a normal night shift and after a normal night sleep. The results showed that driving home from the night shift was associated with an increased number of incidents (two wheels outside the lane marking, from 2.4 to 7.6 times), decreased time to first accident, increased lateral deviation (from 18 to 43 cm), increased eye closure duration (0.102 to 0.143 s), and increased subjective sleepiness. The results indicate severe postnight shift effects on sleepiness and driving performance.

Purpose The current study used an intervention design to test the hypothesis that parent input sentences with diverse lexical noun phrase (NP) subjects would accelerate growth in children’s sentence diversity. Method Child growth in third person sentence diversity was modeled from 21 to 30 months (n = 38) in conversational language samples obtained at 21, 24, 27, and 30 months. Treatment parents (n = 19) received instruction on strategies designed to increase lexical NP subjects (e.g., The baby is sleeping.). Instruction consisted of one group education session and two individual coaching sessions which took place when children were approximately 22 to 23 months of age. Results Treatment substantially increased parents’ lexical NP subject tokens and types (ηp2 ≥ .45) compared to controls. Children’s number of different words was a significant predictor of sentence diversity in the analyses of group treatment effects and individual input effects. Treatment condition was not a significant predictor of treatment effects on children’s sentence diversity, but parents’ lexical NP subject types was a significant predictor of children’s sentence diversity growth, even after controlling for children’s number of different words over time. Conclusions These findings establish a link between subject diversity in parent input and children’s early grammatical growth, and the feasibility of using relatively simple strategies to alter this specific grammatical property of parent language input. PMID:28286431

We examine 3D patterns of volume differences in the brain associated with blindness, in subjects grouped according to early and late onset. Using tensor-based morphometry, we map volume reductions and gains in 16 early-onset (EB) and 16 late-onset (LB) blind adults (onset <5 and >14 years old, respectively) relative to 16 matched sighted controls. Each subject’s structural MRI was fluidly registered to a common template. Anatomical differences between groups were mapped based on statistical analysis of the resulting deformation fields revealing profound deficits in primary and secondary visual cortices for both blind groups. Regions outside the occipital lobe showed significant hypertrophy, suggesting widespread compensatory adaptations. EBs but not LBs showed deficits in the splenium and hypertrophy in the isthmus. Gains in the isthmus and non-occipital white matter were more widespread in the EBs. These differences may reflect regional alterations in late neurodevelopmental processes, such as myelination, that continue into adulthood. PMID:19643183

We measured changes to cone photoreceptors in patients with early age-related macular degeneration. The data of 53 patients were compared with normative data for color matching measurements of long- and middle-wavelength-sensitive cones in the central macula. A four-parameter model quantified cone photopigment optical density and kinetics. Cone photopigment optical density was on average less for the patients than for normal subjects and was uncorrelated with visual acuity. More light was needed to reduce the photopigment density by 50% in the steady state for patients. These results imply that cone photopigment optical density is reduced by factors other than slowed kinetics.

Clinical aspects of the "night eating syndrome" (NES) are described. Recent studies, also referred to in the present report, have revealed certain triggering factors of this syndrome, but do not reveal the nature of the relationship between awakening and compulsory need for food. According to the psychodynamic interpretation, these subjects eat at night to replace dreaming, to which they offer strong resistance, whilst according to the psychobiological interpretation, motivational stimuli develop the irresistible and repeated desire for food. Within a post-rational cognitive theoretical model, the compulsion to food would be the mode through which subjects obtain a modified conscious state necessary to appease the suffering due to an experience of emptiness and incapacity. Psychological support associated with pharmacological treatment (benzodiazepine, gamma-hydroxybutyric acid) has been shown, in a personal series, to be effective both upon the sleep disorder and craving.

Measurement of arousals from sleep is clinically important, however, their definition is not well standardized, and little data exist on reliability. The purpose of this study is to determine factors that affect arousal scoring reliability and night-to-night arousal variability. The night-to-night arousal variability and interscorer reliability was assessed in 20 subjects with and without obstructive sleep apnea undergoing attended polysomnography during two consecutive nights. Five definitions of arousal were studied, assessing duration of electroencephalographic (EEG) frequency changes, increases in electromyographic (EMG) activity and leg movement, association with respiratory events, as well as the American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA) definition of arousals. NA. NA. NA. Interscorer reliability varied with the definition of arousal and ranged from an Intraclass correlation (ICC) of 0.19 to 0.92. Arousals that included increases in EMG activity or leg movement had the greatest reliability, especially when associated with respiratory events (ICC 0.76 to 0.92). The ASDA arousal definition had high interscorer reliability (ICC 0.84). Reliability was lowest for arousals consisting of EEG changes lasting <3 seconds (ICC 0.19 to 0.37). The within subjectsnight-to-night arousal variability was low for all arousal definitions In a heterogeneous population, interscorer arousal reliability is enhanced by increases in EMG activity, leg movements, and respiratory events and decreased by short duration EEG arousals. The arousal index night-to-night variability was low for all definitions.

Executive functions were studied in 14 early and continuously treated PKU subjects (age 10.8 years, range 8-13) in comparison with controls matched for IQ, sex, age and socioeconomic status. Brain MRI examination was normal in all PKU patients. Neuropsychological evaluation included Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure Test, Elithorn's Perceptual Maze Test, Weigl's Sorting Test, Tower of London, Visual Search and Motor Motor Learning Test. Whatever the IQ, PKU subjects performed worse than controls in tests exploring executive functions. Subgrouping the PKU subjects according to the quality of dietary control for the entire follow-up period (using 400 micromol/L as cut-off value for blood phenylalanine (Phe) concentration) showed that patients with worse dietary control performed more poorly than both the PKU group with the best dietary control and the control group. However, a mild impairment of executive functions was still found in PKU patients with a good dietary control (Phe <400 micromol/L) compared to controls. Concerning the PKU group as a whole, no linear correlation was found between neuropsychological performance and historical and concurrent biochemical parameters. We conclude that (a) PKU patients, even when treated early, rigorously and continuously, show an impairment of frontal lobe functions; (b) a protracted exposure to moderately high levels of Phe can affect frontal lobe functions independently of the possible effect of the same exposure on IQ; (c) in order to reduce the risk of frontal lobe dysfunction, the target of dietary therapy should be to maintain blood Phe concentration below 400 micromol/L.

Early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) offers a unique opportunity to study pathophysiological mechanisms and development of schizophrenia. Using 26 drug-naïve, first-episode EOS patients and 25 age- and gender-matched control subjects, we examined intrinsic connectivity network (ICN) deficits underlying EOS. Due to the emerging inconsistency between behavior-based psychiatric disease classification system and the underlying brain dysfunctions, we applied a fully data-driven approach to investigate whether the subjects can be grouped into highly homogeneous communities according to the characteristics of their ICNs. The resultant subject communities and the representative characteristics of ICNs were then associated with the clinical diagnosis and multivariate symptom patterns. A default mode ICN was statistically absent in EOS patients. Another frontotemporal ICN further distinguished EOS patients with predominantly negative symptoms. Connectivity patterns of this second network for the EOS patients with predominantly positive symptom were highly similar to typically developing controls. Our post-hoc functional connectivity modeling confirmed that connectivity strength in this frontotemporal circuit was significantly modulated by relative severity of positive and negative syndromes in EOS. This study presents a novel subtype discovery approach based on brain networks and proposes complex links between brain networks and symptom patterns in EOS.

The effect of two durations of bright light upon sleepiness and performance during typical night shift hours was assessed. Thirty normal, healthy young adults participated in a 2-night protocol. On the 1st nightsubjects were exposed to bright or dim light beginning at 2400 hours, under one of the following three conditions: bright light for 4 hours, dim light for 2 hours followed by bright light for 2 hours or dim light for 4 hours. Following light exposure, subjects remained awake until 0800 hours in a dimly lit room and slept in the laboratory between 0800 and 1600 hours, during which time sleep was estimated with actigraphy. Throughout the 2nd night, the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT), simulated assembly line task (SALT) performance, and subjective sleepiness were recorded. The single, 4-hour exposure to bright light was found to significantly increase MSLT scores and improve SALT performance during the early morning hours on the night following bright-light exposure. No significant effects were noted with a 2-hour exposure. The most likely explanation for these findings is a phase delay in the circadian rhythm of sleepiness-alertness.

Subjective well-being (SWB) in youths positively relates to family income, however its association with income during childhood is unclear. Using longitudinal data from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics (n = 2234 adolescents, age 12-19 years), we examined whether the timing and duration of low family income in childhood was associated with adolescent SWB. We categorized family income during childhood into state-specific quintiles. Adolescent SWB was assessed using a 12-item questionnaire (score range 3-18). We used marginal structural modelling to test for sensitive periods of exposure to low income and tested cumulative effects of income by modelling the number of years spent in the poorest income quintiles. A period in early childhood (age 0-2 years) was particularly sensitive to low family income. Adolescent SWB was 1.65 (95% CI 0.40, 2.91) points lower in those who grew up in the poorest income quintiles during early childhood compared with the top quintile. Further, each childhood year spent in the poorest income quintiles was associated with a 0.10 point (95% CI 0.04, 0.16) lower SWB score in adolescence. The timing and duration of low family income in childhood both predict individual differences in adolescent SWB. Further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms of these models and inform public policies.

Purpose Subjective well-being (SWB) in youths positively relates to family income, however its association with income during childhood is unclear. Using longitudinal data from the US Panel Study of Income Dynamics (n = 2234 adolescents, age 12–19 years), we examined whether the timing and duration of low family income in childhood was associated with adolescent SWB. Methods We categorized family income during childhood into state-specific quintiles. Adolescent SWB was assessed using a 12-item questionnaire (score range 3–18). We used marginal structural modelling to test for sensitive periods of exposure to low income and tested cumulative effects of income by modelling the number of years spent in the poorest income quintiles. Results A period in early childhood (age 0–2 years) was particularly sensitive to low family income. Adolescent SWB was 1.65 (95% CI 0.40, 2.91) points lower in those who grew up in the poorest income quintiles during early childhood compared with the top quintile. Further, each childhood year spent in the poorest income quintiles was associated with a 0.10 point (95% CI 0.04, 0.16) lower SWB score in adolescence. Conclusions The timing and duration of low family income in childhood both predict individual differences in adolescent SWB. Further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms of these models and inform public policies. PMID:28715418

Early childhood is a time of significant change within multiple cognitive domains including social cognition, memory, executive function, and language; however, the corresponding neural changes remain poorly understood. This is likely due to the difficulty in acquiring artifact-free functional MRI data during complex task-based or unconstrained resting-state experiments in young children. In addition, task-based and resting state experiments may not capture dynamic real-world processing. Here we overcome both of these challenges through use of naturalistic viewing (i.e., passively watching a movie in the scanner) combined with inter-subject neural synchrony to examine functional specialization within 4- and 6-year old children. Using a novel and stringent crossed random effect statistical analysis, we find that children show more variable patterns of activation compared to adults, particularly within regions of the default mode network (DMN). In addition, we found partial evidence that child-to-adult synchrony increased as a function of age within a DMN region: the temporoparietal junction. Our results suggest age-related differences in functional brain organization within a cross-sectional sample during an ecologically valid context and demonstrate that neural synchrony during naturalistic viewing fMRI can be used to examine functional specialization during early childhood - a time when neural and cognitive systems are in flux.

Context: Although electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is considered a very effective tool for the treatment of psychiatric diseases, memory disturbances are among the most important adverse effects. Aims: This study aimed to assess prospectively earlysubjective memory complaints in depressive and manic patients due to bilateral, brief-pulse ECT, at different stages of the treatment, compare the associations between psychiatric diagnosis, sociodemographic characteristics, and ECT characteristics. Settings and Design: This prospective study was done with patients undergoing ECT between November 2008 and April 2009 at a tertiary care psychiatry hospital of 2000 beds. Materials and Methods: A total of 140 patients, scheduled for ECT with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder (depressive or manic episode) or unipolar depression according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV diagnostic criteria, were included in the study and invited to complete the Squire Subjective Memory Questionnaire (SSMQ) before ECT, after the first and third sessions and end of ECT treatment. Statistical Analysis: Mean values were compared with the Kruskal–Wallis test and comparison of the longitudinal data was performed with a nonparametric longitudinal data analysis method, F1_LD_F1 design. Results: SSMQ scores of the patients before ECT were zero. SSMQ scores showed a decrease after the first and third ECT sessions and before discharge, showing a memory disturbance after ECT and were significantly less severe in patients with mania in comparison to those with depression. Conclusions: These findings suggest an increasing degree of subjective memory complaints with bilateral brief-pulse ECT parallel to the increasing number of ECT sessions. PMID:27385854

Puberty is marked by sleep-associated changes in LH pulse frequency and amplitude. Early pubertal girls with obesity exhibit blunted day-to-night changes in LH secretion; whether this occurs in late pubertal obese girls is unknown. The objective of the study was to test two hypotheses: 1) blunted day-to-night changes in LH secretion occur in both early and late pubertal obese girls, and 2) such alterations are specifically associated with hyperandrogenemia. This was a cross-sectional analysis. The study was conducted at a clinical research center. Twenty-seven early pubertal, premenarcheal girls (12 of whom were obese) and 63 late pubertal (postmenarcheal) girls (27 of whom were obese) participated in the study. Blood samples were taken every 10 minutes from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am. Change in LH pulse frequency [LH interpulse interval (IPI)] from daytime hours (7:00 pm-11:00 pm, while awake) to nighttime hours (11:00 pm to 7:00 am, while generally asleep). Both nonobese and obese postmenarcheal girls demonstrated significant day-to-night decreases in LH pulse frequency (IPI increases of 33% and 16%, respectively), but day-to-night changes were blunted in obese girls (P = .004, obese vs nonobese). Day-to-night LH pulse frequency decreased significantly in postmenarcheal obese subjects with normal T concentrations (26% IPI increase) but not in those with hyperandrogenemia. Similar differences were evident for LH pulse amplitude. Nonobese and obese early pubertal girls exhibited nonsignificant differences in day-night LH pulse frequency (day to night IPI increase of 26% vs decrease of 1%, respectively). Day-to-night changes in LH pulse secretion are blunted in postmenarcheal obese adolescent girls. This phenomenon may in part reflect hyperandrogenemia.

Context: Puberty is marked by sleep-associated changes in LH pulse frequency and amplitude. Early pubertal girls with obesity exhibit blunted day-to-night changes in LH secretion; whether this occurs in late pubertal obese girls is unknown. Objective: The objective of the study was to test two hypotheses: 1) blunted day-to-night changes in LH secretion occur in both early and late pubertal obese girls, and 2) such alterations are specifically associated with hyperandrogenemia. Design: This was a cross-sectional analysis. Setting: The study was conducted at a clinical research center. Patients or Other Participants: Twenty-seven early pubertal, premenarcheal girls (12 of whom were obese) and 63 late pubertal (postmenarcheal) girls (27 of whom were obese) participated in the study. Intervention: Blood samples were taken every 10 minutes from 7:00 pm to 7:00 am. Main Outcome Measure: Change in LH pulse frequency [LH interpulse interval (IPI)] from daytime hours (7:00 pm-11:00 pm, while awake) to nighttime hours (11:00 pm to 7:00 am, while generally asleep). Results: Both nonobese and obese postmenarcheal girls demonstrated significant day-to-night decreases in LH pulse frequency (IPI increases of 33% and 16%, respectively), but day-to-night changes were blunted in obese girls (P = .004, obese vs nonobese). Day-to-night LH pulse frequency decreased significantly in postmenarcheal obese subjects with normal T concentrations (26% IPI increase) but not in those with hyperandrogenemia. Similar differences were evident for LH pulse amplitude. Nonobese and obese early pubertal girls exhibited nonsignificant differences in day-night LH pulse frequency (day to night IPI increase of 26% vs decrease of 1%, respectively). Conclusions: Day-to-night changes in LH pulse secretion are blunted in postmenarcheal obese adolescent girls. This phenomenon may in part reflect hyperandrogenemia. PMID:24780043

... blood calcium level Certain medicines, including water pills (diuretics) Diabetes insipidus Waking often during the night to ... cause. If excessive nighttime urination is due to diuretic medicines, you may be told to take your ...

Describes student demonstrations on the night that U.S. planes bombed Iraq in the Persian Gulf War. Compares attitudes and feelings to the Vietnam War era. Concludes that the students incorrectly supported the Gulf War action. (CFR)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission`s (NRC) Headquarters Operations Officers (HOOs) receive and respond to events reported in the nuclear industry on a 24-hour basis. The HOOs have reported reduced alertness on the night shift, leading to a potential deterioration in their on-shift cognitive performance during the early morning hours. For some HOOs, maladaptation to the night shift was also reported to be the principal cause of: (a) reduced alertness during the commute to and from work, (b) poor sleep quality, and (c) personal lifestyle problems. ShiftWork Systems, Inc. (SWS) designed and installed a Circadian Lighting System (CLS) at both the Bethesdamore » and Rockville HOO stations with the goal of facilitating the HOOs physiological adjustment to their night shift schedules. The data indicate the following findings: less subjective fatigue on night shifts; improved night shift alertness and mental performance; higher HOO confidence in their ability to assess event reports; longer, deeper and more restorative day sleep after night duty shifts; swifter adaptation to night work; and a safer commute, particularly for those with extensive drives.« less

Subjective age generally refers to the age that one feels. In a cross-sectional questionnaire study of 245 adolescents ages 10-14 years, we examined (a) whether, and when, a cross-over in subjective age occurs, (b) differences in subjective age among pubertal timing groups, (c) correlations between subjective age and each of desired age and five…

Describes early spring night field trips by two naturalists and ten adults, armed with cameras and flashlights, in search of Spotted Salamanders performing ritual mating dances. Although dancing salamanders proved elusive, their habits and those of other pond life were examined and Spring American Woodcock nuptial flights were observed. (NEC)

This paper introduces a dataset and associated analysis of the scores of National Football League (NFL) games over the 2012, 2013, and first five weeks of the 2014 season. In the face of current media attention to "lopsided" scores in Thursday night games in the early part of the 2014 season, t-test results indicate no statistically…

NASA Voyager 2 obtained this wide-angle image of the night side of Titan on Aug. 25, 1979. This is a view of Titan extended atmosphere. the bright orangish ring being caused by the atmosphere scattering of the incident sunlight.

Aimed at primary-age children, this book brings William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" to them, recognizing that children, properly guided, will take to Shakespeare's characters and stories like "ducks to water"; in the process they find their inner voices, they collaborate, they improvise, and they communicate. Illustrated with…

ISS043E193686 (05/14/2015) --- NASA astronaut Terry Virts commander of Expedition 43 on the International Space Station tweeted this night Earth observation with the comment: "This reddish brownish layer of our atmosphere is facinating- it's made of O and OH and is only seen in certain areas".

The goal of the Family Science Night (FSN) described in this article was to involve culturally and linguistically diverse families in school life so that students would be more vocal, successful, and interactive in science class. The project would also demonstrate to the students that their teacher valued their input in the classroom. The setting…

The mission of Disability Awareness Night is to expand awareness of the 54 million Americans with disabilities, by highlighting their extraordinary achievements and the perseverance and dedication of the families, caregivers, physicians, nurses, therapists and teachers involved in their care and development. The presentation of the EP Maxwell…

Night myopia, which is a shift in refraction with light level, has been widely studied but still lacks a complete understanding. We used a new infrared open-view binocular Hartmann-Shack wave front sensor to quantify night myopia under monocular and natural binocular viewing conditions. Both eyes' accommodative response, aberrations, pupil diameter, and convergence were simultaneously measured at light levels ranging from photopic to scotopic conditions to total darkness. For monocular vision, reducing the stimulus luminance resulted in a progression of the accommodative state that tends toward the subject's dark focus or tonic accommodation and a change in convergence following the induced accommodative error. Most subjects presented a myopic shift of accommodation that was mitigated in binocular vision. The impact of spherical aberration on the focus shift was relatively small. Our results in monocular conditions support the hypothesis that night myopia has an accommodative origin as the eye progressively changes its accommodation state with decreasing luminance toward its resting state in total darkness. On the other hand, binocularity restrains night myopia, possibly by using fusional convergence as an additional accommodative cue, thus reducing the potential impact of night myopia on vision at low light levels.

This study examined the impact of eating during simulated night shift on performance and subjective complaints. Subjects were randomized to eating at night (n=5; 23.2 ± 5.5 y) or not eating at night (n=5; 26.2 ± 6.4 y). All participants were given one sleep opportunity of 8 h (22:00 h-06:00 h) before transitioning to the night shift protocol. During the four days of simulated night shift participants were awake from 16:00 h-10:00 h with a daytime sleep of 6 h (10:00 h-16:00 h). In the simulated night shift protocol, meals were provided at ≈0700 h, 1900 h and 0130 h (eating at night); or ≈0700 h, 0930 h, 1410 h and 1900 h (not eating at night). Subjects completed sleepiness, hunger and gastric complaint scales, a Digit Symbol Substitution Task and a 10-min Psychomotor Vigilance Task. Increased sleepiness and performance impairment was evident in both conditions at 0400 h (p<0.05). Performance impairment at 0400 h was exacerbated when eating at night. Not eating at night was associated with elevated hunger and a small but significant elevation in stomach upset across the night (p<0.026). Eating at night was associated with elevated bloating on night one, which decreased across the protocol. Restricting food intake may limit performance impairments at night. Dietary recommendations to improve night-shift performance must also consider worker comfort.

What is the central question of this study? What are the factors influencing day-night variations in postprandial triglycerides? What is the main finding and its importance? Rats show low postprandial plasma triglyceride concentrations early in the active period that are attributable to a higher uptake by skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue. We show that these day-night variations in uptake are driven by the suprachiasmatic nucleus, probably via a Rev-erbα-mediated mechanism and independent of locomotor activity. These findings highlight that the suprachiasmatic nucleus has a major role in day-night variations in plasma triglycerides and that disturbances in our biological clock might be an important risk factor contributing to development of postprandial hyperlipidaemia. Energy metabolism follows a diurnal pattern, mainly driven by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), and disruption of circadian regulation has been linked to metabolic abnormalities. Indeed, epidemiological evidence shows that night work is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and postprandial hyperlipidaemia is an important contributor. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the factors that drive day-night variations in postprandial triglycerides (TGs). Intact and SCN-lesioned male Wistar rats were subjected to an oral fat challenge during the beginning of the rest phase (day) or the beginning of the active phase (night). The plasma TG profile was evaluated and tissue TG uptake assayed. After the fat challenge, intact rats showed lower postprandial plasma TG concentrations early in the night when compared with the day. However, no differences were observed in the rate of intestinal TG secretion between day and night. Instead, there was a higher uptake of TG by skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue early in the active phase (night) when compared with the rest phase (day), and these variations were abolished in rats bearing bilateral SCN lesions. Rev-erbα gene expression

Endothelial dysfunction and injury are considered to contribute considerably to the development and progression of atherosclerosis. It has been suggested that intense exercise training can increase the number and angiogenic properties of early endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). However, whether exercise training stimulates the capacity of early EPCs to promote repair of endothelial damage and potential underlying mechanisms remain to be determined. The present study was designed to evaluate the effects of moderate exercise training on in vivo endothelial repair capacity of early EPCs, and their nitric oxide and superoxide production as characterized by electron spin resonance spectroscopy analysis in subjects with metabolic syndrome. Twenty-four subjects with metabolic syndrome were randomized to an 8 weeks exercise training or a control group. Superoxide production and nitric oxide (NO) availability of early EPCs were characterized by using electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy analysis. In vivo endothelial repair capacity of EPCs was examined by transplantation into nude mice with defined carotid endothelial injury. Endothelium-dependent, flow-mediated vasodilation was analysed using high-resolution ultrasound. Importantly, exercise training resulted in a substantially improved in vivo endothelial repair capacity of early EPCs (24.0 vs 12.7%; p early endothelial progenitor cells and reduces their superoxide production. Importantly, this is associated with a marked beneficial effect on the in vivo endothelial repair capacity of early EPCs in subjects with

Based on the Theory of Subjectivity in a cultural-historical perspective, this paper presents an empirical study of two infant teachers and their subjective dynamics of being "enchanted" with singular aspects of their professional lives. Through the constructive-interpretative principle driven from the Qualitative Epistemology, the study…

Travelers In The Night is an engaging and informative series of two minute radio programs about asteroids, comets, spacecraft, and other objects in space. The pieces are evergreen in that they are current but not dated. They are published on the Public Radio Exchange and carried by a number of radio stations. For teachers, students, and kids of all ages, the script for each piece and the start of a path for further inquiry can be found on the website travelersinthenight.org . The Travelers InThe Night Pieces are written and produced by an observing member of the Catalina Sky Survey Team at the University of Arizona. DPS members are encouraged to submit program ideas which can be developed to feature their research efforts.

Day and night side narrow angle images taken on January 1, 2001 illustrating storms visible on the day side which are the sources of visible lightning when viewed on the night side. The images have been enhanced in contrast. Note the two day-side occurrences of high clouds, in the upper and lower parts of the image, are coincident with lightning storms seen on the darkside. The storms occur at 34.5 degrees and 23.5 degrees North latitude, within one degree of the latitudes at which similar lightning features were detected by the Galileo spacecraft. The images were taken at different times. The storms' longitudinal separation changes from one image to the next because the winds carrying them blow at different speeds at the two latitudes.

Day and night side narrow angle images taken on January 1, 2001 illustrating storms visible on the day side which are the sources of visible lightning when viewed on the night side. The images have been enhanced in contrast. Note the two day-side occurrences of high clouds, in the upper and lower parts of the image, are coincident with lightning storms seen on the darkside. The storms occur at 34.5 degrees and 23.5 degrees North latitude, within one degree of the latitudes at which similar lightning features were detected by the Galileo spacecraft. The images were taken at different times. The storms' longitudinal separation changes from one image to the next because the winds carrying them blow at different speeds at the two latitudes. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02878

Artificial light at night is a rapidly increasing phenomenon and it is presumed to have global implications. Light at night has been associated with health problems in humans as a consequence of altered biological rhythms. Effects on wild animals have been less investigated, but light at night has often been assumed to affect seasonal cycles of urban dwellers. Using light loggers attached to free-living European blackbirds (Turdus merula), we first measured light intensity at night which forest and city birds are subjected to in the wild. Then we used these measurements to test for the effect of light at night on timing of reproductive physiology. Captive city and forest blackbirds were exposed to either dark nights or very low light intensities at night (0.3 lux). Birds exposed to light at night developed their reproductive system up to one month earlier, and also moulted earlier, than birds kept under dark nights. Furthermore, city birds responded differently than forest individuals to the light at night treatment, suggesting that urbanization can alter the physiological phenotype of songbirds. Our results emphasize the impact of human-induced lighting on the ecology of millions of animals living in cities and call for an understanding of the fitness consequences of light pollution. PMID:23407836

Early years education in Europe and elsewhere around the world is currently in the spotlight due to political and economical changes and subsequent promises of effective investment into its provision. In this article we analyse everyday preschool practices in Slovakia in terms of tensions between policies, the teachers workforce and the concept of…

Study Objectives: To assess the validity of sleep architecture and sleep continuity biomarkers obtained from a portable, multichannel forehead electroencephalography (EEG) recorder. Methods: Forty-seven subjects simultaneously underwent polysomnography (PSG) while wearing a multichannel frontopolar EEG recording device (Sleep Profiler). The PSG recordings independently staged by 5 registered polysomnographic technologists were compared for agreement with the autoscored sleep EEG before and after expert review. To assess the night-to-night variability and first night bias, 2 nights of self-applied, in-home EEG recordings obtained from a clinical cohort of 63 patients were used (41% with a diagnosis of insomnia/depression, 35% with insomnia/obstructive sleep apnea, and 17.5% with all three). The between-night stability of abnormal sleep biomarkers was determined by comparing each night's data to normative reference values. Results: The mean overall interscorer agreements between the 5 technologists were 75.9%, and the mean kappa score was 0.70. After visual review, the mean kappa score between the autostaging and five raters was 0.67, and staging agreed with a majority of scorers in at least 80% of the epochs for all stages except stage N1. Sleep spindles, autonomic activation, and stage N3 exhibited the least between-night variability (P < .0001) and strongest between-night stability. Antihypertensive medications were found to have a significant effect on sleep quality biomarkers (P < .02). Conclusions: A strong agreement was observed between the automated sleep staging and human-scored PSG. One night's recording appeared sufficient to characterize abnormal slow wave sleep, sleep spindle activity, and heart rate variability in patients, but a 2-night average improved the assessment of all other sleep biomarkers. Commentary: Two commentaries on this article appear in this issue on pages 771 and 773. Citation: Levendowski DJ, Ferini-Strambi L, Gamaldo C, Cetel M

The author argues that the field of behavior intervention has two subject matters that are distinct in several ways. Each is derived from, and contributes to, the foundation science and epistemology associated with behavior selection. The differences that the author wants to describe occurred to him as he sought to identify which of two Spanish…

In the BIG 1-98 trial objective cognitive function improved in postmenopausal women 1 year after cessation of adjuvant endocrine therapy for breast cancer. This report evaluates changes in subjective cognitive function (SCF). One hundred postmenopausal women, randomised to receive 5 years of adjuvant tamoxifen, letrozole, or a sequence of the two, completed self-reported measures on SCF, psychological distress, fatigue, and quality of life during the fifth year of trial treatment (year 5) and 1 year after treatment completion (year 6). Changes between years 5 and 6 were evaluated using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Subjective cognitive function and its correlates were explored. Subjective cognitive function and the other patient-reported outcomes did not change significantly after cessation of endocrine therapy with the exception of improvement for hot flushes (P=0.0005). No difference in changes was found between women taking tamoxifen or letrozole. Subjective cognitive function was the only psychosocial outcome with a substantial correlation between year 5 and 6 (Spearman's R=0.80). Correlations between SCF and the other patient-reported outcomes were generally low. Improved objective cognitive function but not SCF occur following cessation of adjuvant endocrine therapy in the BIG 1-98 trial. The substantial correlation of SCF scores over time may represent a stable attribute.

Gratitude was examined among 154 students to identify benefits from its experience and expression. Students completed measures of subjective well-being, social support, prosocial behavior, and physical symptoms. Positive associations were found between gratitude and positive affect, global and domain specific life satisfaction, optimism, social…

PixelVision, Inc. developed the Night Video NV652 Back-illuminated CCD Camera, based on the expertise of a former Jet Propulsion Laboratory employee and a former employee of Scientific Imaging Technologies, Inc. The camera operates without an image intensifier, using back-illuminated and thinned CCD technology to achieve extremely low light level imaging performance. The advantages of PixelVision's system over conventional cameras include greater resolution and better target identification under low light conditions, lower cost and a longer lifetime. It is used commercially for research and aviation.

Central to ethically justified clinical trial design is the need for an informed consent process responsive to how potential subjects actually comprehend study participation, especially study goals, risks, and potential benefits. This will be particularly challenging when studying deep brain stimulation and whether it impedes symptom progression in Parkinson's disease, since potential subjects will be Parkinson's patients for whom deep brain stimulation will likely have therapeutic value in the future as their disease progresses. As part of an expanded informed consent process for a pilot Phase I study of deep brain stimulation in early stage Parkinson's disease, an ethics questionnaire composed of 13 open-ended questions was distributed to potential subjects. The questionnaire was designed to guide potential subjects in thinking about their potential participation. While the purpose of the study (safety and tolerability) was extensively presented during the informed consent process, in returned responses 70 percent focused on effectiveness and 91 percent included personal benefit as poten- tial benefit from enrolling. However, 91 percent also indicated helping other Parkinson's patients as motivation when considering whether or not to enroll. This combination of responses highlights two issues to which investigators need to pay close attention in future trial designs: (1) how, and in what ways, informed consent processes reinforce potential subjects' preconceived understandings of benefit, and (2) that potential subjects see themselves as part of a community of Parkinson's sufferers with responsibilities extending beyond self-interest. More importantly, it invites speculation that a different paradigm for informed consent may be needed.

Previous studies have reported elevated concentrations of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in patients with major depression. Elevations of CSF CRF have also been reported in adult laboratory animals exposed to the stress of brief maternal deprivation or maternal neglect in the neonatal or preweaning period. The present study was designed to determine whether major depression and a history of perceived early adversity in childhood are independently associated with elevated CSF CRF concentrations in adults. In this case-control study, 27 medication-free adults with major depression and 25 matched controls underwent standardized lumbar puncture for collection of a single CSF sample at 1200. Subjects provided data about significant adverse early-life experiences and rated their global perceived level of stress during pre-school and preteen years on a six-point Likert scale. The mean difference in CSF CRF between depressed patients and controls did not reach statistical significance. In a regression model, perceived early-life stress was a significant predictor of CSF CRF, but depression was not. Perinatal adversity and perceived adversity in the preteen adversity years (ages 6-13 years) were both independently associated with decreasing CSF CRF concentrations. The relationship observed between perceived early-life stress and adult CSF CRF concentrations in this study closely parallels recent preclinical findings. More work is needed to elucidate the critical nature and timing of early events that may be associated with enduring neuroendocrine changes in humans.

NASA image acquired August 29, 2012 1:57 a.m EDT Annotated view here: bit.ly/RsFT9Y Hurricane Isaac lit up by moonlight as it spins over the city of New Orleans, La. at 1:57 am central daylight savings time the morning of August 29, 2012. The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite captured these images with its Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). The "day-night band" of VIIRS detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses light intensification to enable the detection of dim signals. Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Defense. Image Credit: NASA/NOAA, Earth Observatory NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using VIIRS Day Night Band data. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Life on earth has evolved during the past several billion years under relatively bright days and dark night conditions. The wide-spread adoption of electric lights during the past century exposed animals, both human and non-human, to significant light at night for the first time in their evolutionary history. Endogenous circadian clocks depend on light to entrain to the external daily environment and seasonal rhythms depend on clear nightly melatonin signals to assess time of year. Thus, light at night can derange temporal adaptations. Indeed, disruption of naturally evolved light-dark cycles results in several physiological and behavioural changes with potentially serious implications for physiology, behaviour and mood. In this review, data from night-shift workers on their elevated risk for metabolic disorders, as well as data from animal studies will be discussed. Night-shift workers are predisposed to obesity and dysregulated metabolism that may result from disrupted circadian rhythms. Although studies in human subjects are correlative, animal studies have revealed several mechanisms through which light at night may exert its effects on metabolism by disrupting circadian rhythms that are associated with inflammation, both in the brain and in the periphery. Disruption of the typical timing of food intake is a key effect of light at night and subsequent metabolic dysregulation. Strategies to avoid the effects of light at night on body mass dysregulation should be pursued.

In his 1945 paper Lacan discusses a sophism to exemplify crucial moments in the becoming of a human subject. One of these moments is the anticipation of an identity. This anticipatory decision is confirmed in a subsequent logical reasoning. In our paper we will present the sophism in its details and will focus on the essential moment of anticipation. The further (and sometimes implicit) reworking of this notion by Lacan shows that, according to psychoanalysis, anticipation is an important mechanism that involves time and the presence of the other.

Jovian aurora on the night side of the planet. The upper bright arc is auroral emission seen 'edge on' above the planetary limb with the darkness of space as a background. The lower bright arc is seen against the dark clouds of Jupiter. The aurora is easier to see on the night side of Jupiter because it is fainter than the clouds when they are illuminated by sunlight. Jupiter's north pole is out of view to the upper right. The images were taken in the clear filter (visible light) and are displayed in shades of blue.

As on Earth, the auroral emission is caused by electrically charged particles striking the upper atmosphere from above. The particles travel along the magnetic field lines of the planet, but their origin is not fully understood. The field lines where the aurora is most intense cross the Jovian equator at large distances (many Jovian radii) from the planet. The faint background throughout the image is scattered light in the camera. This stray light comes from the sunlit portion of Jupiter, which is out of the image to the right. In multispectral observations the aurora appears red, consistent with glow from atomic hydrogen in Jupiter's atmosphere. Galileo's unique perspective allows it to view the night side of the planet at short range, revealing details that cannot be seen from Earth. These detailed features are time dependent, and can be followed in sequences of Galileo images.

North is at the top of the picture. A grid of planetocentric latitude and west longitude is overlain on the images. The images were taken on November 5, 1997 at a range of 1.3 million kilometers by the Solid State Imaging (SSI) system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft.

Dead of Night, the first psychoanalytic horror film, was produced in England in 1945, immediately after the end of World War II--that is, after the English population had suffered systematic Nazi terror from imminent invasion, incessant aerial bombing, and rocket-bombs. This film continued the prewar format of horror films based on themes of the supernatural and the hubris and excesses of science. However, it introduced psychoanalysis as the science in question. The film is structured on two levels: a genteel English country weekend to which witty and urbane guests have been invited; and five horror stories told by the guests. Psychoanalytic insights into this film structure are used here to explain how the film induces horror in the audience.

A night test of a small-scale starshade model, in a dry lake bed in central Nevada's Smith Creek by Northrup Grumman, took place in May to June 2014. A telescope points toward a bright light, which in the darkness of the desert mimics the conditions of starlight in space. Other lights, which are up to 10 million times fainter than the light source standing in for the star, represent the reflected light of planets. Telescopes searching for the relatively dim light of an exoplanet next to its much brighter star are faced with a challenge as difficult as searching from Los Angeles for a firefly in New York -- if the firefly is next to the brightness of a lighthouse. The tests by Northrup Grumman determined that a starshade, or external occulter, is capable of blocking starlight to a degree that can indeed reveal the light of a planet. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20901

Previous studies indicate that conscious face perception may be related to neural activity in a large time window around 170-800ms after stimulus presentation, yet in the majority of these studies changes in conscious experience are confounded with changes in physical stimulation. Using multivariate classification on MEG data recorded when participants reported changes in conscious perception evoked by binocular rivalry between a face and a grating, we showed that only MEG signals in the 120-320ms time range, peaking at the M170 around 180ms and the P2m at around 260ms, reliably predicted conscious experience. Conscious perception could not only be decoded significantly better than chance from the sensors that showed the largest average difference, as previous studies suggest, but also from patterns of activity across groups of occipital sensors that individually were unable to predict perception better than chance. Additionally, source space analyses showed that sources in the early and late visual system predicted conscious perception more accurately than frontal and parietal sites, although conscious perception could also be decoded there. Finally, the patterns of neural activity associated with conscious face perception generalized from one participant to another around the times of maximum prediction accuracy. Our work thus demonstrates that the neural correlates of particular conscious contents (here, faces) are highly consistent in time and space within individuals and that these correlates are shared to some extent between individuals. PMID:23281780

This paper presents a study on the carbonation reaction heat and products of tricalcium silicate (C₃S) paste exposed to carbon dioxide (CO₂) for rapid curing. Reaction heat was measured using a retrofitted micro-calorimeter. The highest heat flow of a C₃S paste subject to carbonation curing was 200 times higher than that by hydration, and the cumulative heat released by carbonation was three times higher. The compressive strength of a C₃S paste carbonated for 2 h and 24 h was 27.5 MPa and 62.9 MPa, respectively. The 24-h carbonation strength had exceeded the hydration strength at 28 days. The CO₂ uptake of a C₃S paste carbonated for 2 h and 24 h was 17% and 26%, respectively. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope coupled with energy dispersive spectrometer (TEM-EDS), and 29 Si magic angle spinning⁻nuclear magnetic resonance ( 29 Si MAS-NMR) results showed that the products of a carbonated C₃S paste were amorphous silica (SiO₂) and calcite crystal. There was no trace of calcium silicate hydrate (C⁻S⁻H) or other polymorphs of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) detected.

Cognitive changes after menopause are a common complaint, especially as the loss of estradiol at menopause has been hypothesized to contribute to the higher rates of dementia in women. To explore the neural processes related to subjective cognitive complaints, this study examined resting state functional connectivity in 31 postmenopausal women (aged 50–60) in relationship to cognitive complaints following menopause. A cognitive complaint index was calculated using responses to a 120-item questionnaire. Seed regions were identified for resting state brain networks important for higher-order cognitive processes and for areas that have shown differences in volume and functional activity associated with cognitive complaints in prior studies. Results indicated a positive correlation between the executive control network and cognitive complaint score, weaker negative functional connectivity within the frontal cortex, and stronger positive connectivity within the right middle temporal gyrus in postmenopausal women who report more cognitive complaints. While longitudinal studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis, these data are consistent with previous findings suggesting that high levels of cognitive complaints may reflect changes in brain connectivity and may be a potential marker for the risk of late-life cognitive dysfunction in postmenopausal women with otherwise normal cognitive performance. PMID:27721740

This paper presents a study on the carbonation reaction heat and products of tricalcium silicate (C3S) paste exposed to carbon dioxide (CO2) for rapid curing. Reaction heat was measured using a retrofitted micro-calorimeter. The highest heat flow of a C3S paste subject to carbonation curing was 200 times higher than that by hydration, and the cumulative heat released by carbonation was three times higher. The compressive strength of a C3S paste carbonated for 2 h and 24 h was 27.5 MPa and 62.9 MPa, respectively. The 24-h carbonation strength had exceeded the hydration strength at 28 days. The CO2 uptake of a C3S paste carbonated for 2 h and 24 h was 17% and 26%, respectively. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope coupled with energy dispersive spectrometer (TEM-EDS), and 29Si magic angle spinning–nuclear magnetic resonance (29Si MAS-NMR) results showed that the products of a carbonated C3S paste were amorphous silica (SiO2) and calcite crystal. There was no trace of calcium silicate hydrate (C–S–H) or other polymorphs of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) detected. PMID:29734681

IMPORTANCE Rodent studies demonstrate that prolonged fasting during the sleep phase positively influences carcinogenesis and metabolic processes that are putatively associated with risk and prognosis of breast cancer. To our knowledge, no studies in humans have examined nightly fasting duration and cancer outcomes. OBJECTIVE To investigate whether duration of nightly fasting predicted recurrence and mortality among women with early-stage breast cancer and, if so, whether it was associated with risk factors for poor outcomes, including glucoregulation (hemoglobin A1c), chronic inflammation (C-reactive protein), obesity, and sleep. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Data were collected from 2413 women with breast cancer but without diabetes mellitus who were aged 27 to 70 years at diagnosis and participated in the prospective Women’s Healthy Eating and Living study between March 1, 1995, and May 3, 2007. Data analysis was conducted from May 18 to October 5, 2015. EXPOSURES Nightly fasting duration was estimated from 24-hour dietary recalls collected at baseline, year 1, and year 4. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Clinical outcomes were invasive breast cancer recurrence and new primary breast tumors during a mean of 7.3 years of study follow-up as well as death from breast cancer or any cause during a mean of 11.4 years of surveillance. Baseline sleep duration was self-reported, and archived blood samples were used to assess concentrations of hemoglobin A1c and C-reactive protein. RESULTS The cohort of 2413 women (mean [SD] age, 52.4 [8.9] years) reported a mean (SD) fasting duration of 12.5 (1.7) hours per night. In repeated-measures Cox proportional hazards regression models, fasting less than 13 hours per night (lower 2 tertiles of nightly fasting distribution) was associated with an increase in the risk of breast cancer recurrence compared with fasting 13 or more hours per night (hazard ratio, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.05-1.76). Nightly fasting less than 13 hours was not

Rodent studies demonstrate that prolonged fasting during the sleep phase positively influences carcinogenesis and metabolic processes that are putatively associated with risk and prognosis of breast cancer. To our knowledge, no studies in humans have examined nightly fasting duration and cancer outcomes. To investigate whether duration of nightly fasting predicted recurrence and mortality among women with early-stage breast cancer and, if so, whether it was associated with risk factors for poor outcomes, including glucoregulation (hemoglobin A1c), chronic inflammation (C-reactive protein), obesity, and sleep. Data were collected from 2413 women with breast cancer but without diabetes mellitus who were aged 27 to 70 years at diagnosis and participated in the prospective Women's Healthy Eating and Living study between March 1, 1995, and May 3, 2007. Data analysis was conducted from May 18 to October 5, 2015. Nightly fasting duration was estimated from 24-hour dietary recalls collected at baseline, year 1, and year 4. Clinical outcomes were invasive breast cancer recurrence and new primary breast tumors during a mean of 7.3 years of study follow-up as well as death from breast cancer or any cause during a mean of 11.4 years of surveillance. Baseline sleep duration was self-reported, and archived blood samples were used to assess concentrations of hemoglobin A1c and C-reactive protein. The cohort of 2413 women (mean [SD] age, 52.4 [8.9] years) reported a mean (SD) fasting duration of 12.5 (1.7) hours per night. In repeated-measures Cox proportional hazards regression models, fasting less than 13 hours per night (lower 2 tertiles of nightly fasting distribution) was associated with an increase in the risk of breast cancer recurrence compared with fasting 13 or more hours per night (hazard ratio, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.05-1.76). Nightly fasting less than 13 hours was not associated with a statistically significant higher risk of breast cancer mortality (hazard ratio, 1.21; 95

Research into the effects of artificial light at night (ALAN) has grown from a niche speciality into a broad field touching on aspects of life science, physics, astronomy, social science, and more, reflecting the highly interconnected subjects whose common characteristic is the alteration of the natural nighttime environment by anthropogenic light pollution. Until recently, there was no focal point for these diverse efforts to foster connections between researchers and initiate new topics of study in ALAN research. In 2016, the Consortium for Dark Sky Studies (CDSS), the world’s first organization dedicated to the study of the night and the influence of human nighttime activities on the integrity of natural darkness, was founded at the University of Utah. We describe the motivations for establishing the Consortium, its early activities, and initial outcomes of the effort.

The Odyssey spacecraft has completed a full Mars year of observations of the red planet. For the next several weeks the Image of the Day will look back over this first mars year. It will focus on four themes: 1) the poles - with the seasonal changes seen in the retreat and expansion of the caps; 2) craters - with a variety of morphologies relating to impact materials and later alteration, both infilling and exhumation; 3) channels - the clues to liquid surface flow; and 4) volcanic flow features. While some images have helped answer questions about the history of Mars, many have raised new questions that are still being investigated as Odyssey continues collecting data as it orbits Mars.

Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images.

This nighttime IR image was collected September 28, 2002 during the northern spring season. The 'pinwheel' pattern represents alternating warm and cool materials.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data

The oral disposition index, the product of the early insulin secretory response during an oral glucose tolerance test and insulin sensitivity, is used widely for both the prediction of, and evaluation of the response to interventions, in type 2 diabetes. Gastric emptying, which determines small intestinal exposure of nutrients, modulates postprandial glycemia. The aim of this study was to determine whether the insulin secretory response and the disposition index (DI) related to gastric emptying in subjects with normal glucose tolerance. Thirty-nine subjects consumed a 350 mL drink containing 75 g glucose labeled with 99m Tc-sulfur colloid. Gastric emptying (by scintigraphy), blood glucose (G) and plasma insulin (I) were measured between t = 0-120 min. The rate of gastric emptying was derived from the time taken for 50% emptying ( T 50 ) and expressed as kcal/min. The early insulin secretory response was estimated by the ratio of the change in insulin (∆I 0-30 ) to that of glucose at 30 min (∆G 0-30 ) represented as ∆I 0-30 /∆G 0-30 Insulin sensitivity was estimated as 1/fasting insulin and the DI was then calculated as ∆I 0-30 /∆G 0-30 × 1/fasting insulin. There was a direct relationship between ∆G 0-30 and gastric emptying ( r = 0.47, P = 0.003). While there was no association of either ∆I 0-30 ( r = -0.16, P = 0.34) or fasting insulin ( r = 0.21, P = 0.20), there were inverse relationships between the early insulin secretory response ( r = -0.45, P = 0.004) and the DI ( r = -0.33, P = 0.041), with gastric emptying. We conclude that gastric emptying is associated with both insulin secretion and the disposition index in subjects with normal glucose tolerance, such that when gastric emptying is relatively more rapid, both the early insulin secretory response and the disposition index are less. These findings should be interpreted as "hypothesis generating" and provide the rationale for longitudinal studies to

The night sides of Saturn and Tethys are dark places indeed. We know that shadows are darker areas than sunlit areas, and in space, with no air to scatter the light, shadows can appear almost totally black. Tethys (660 miles or 1,062 kilometers across) is just barely seen in the lower left quadrant of this image below the ring plane and has been brightened by a factor of three to increase its visibility. The wavy outline of Saturn's polar hexagon is visible at top center. This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 10 degrees above the ring plane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Jan. 15, 2015 using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.5 million miles (2.4 million kilometers) from Saturn. Image scale is 88 miles (141 kilometers) per pixel. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18333

Infection with group A Streptococcus (StrepA) can cause post-infectious sequelae, including a spectrum of childhood-onset obsessive-compulsive (OCD) and tic disorders with autoimmune origin (PANDAS, Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections). Until now, no single immunological test has been designed that unequivocally diagnoses these disorders. In this study, we assessed the detection of serum antibodies against human brain enolase (AE), neural tissue (AN) and Streptococcus (AS) as a laboratory tool for the diagnosis of early-onset psychiatric disorders. Serum antibodies against human brain enolase, total brain proteins, and total proteins from StrepA were detected by ELISA in 37 patients with a presumptive diagnosis of PANDAS and in 12 healthy subjects from Mexico and Cuba. The antibody titers against human brain enolase (AE) and Streptococcal proteins (AS) were higher in patients than in control subjects (t-student, tAE=-2.17, P=0.035; tAS=-2.68, P=0.01, n=12 and 37/group, df=47, significance level 0.05), while the neural antibody titers did not differ between the two groups (P(t)=0.05). The number of subjects (titers> meancontrol + CI95) with simultaneous seropositivity to all three antibodies was higher in the patient group (51.4%) than in the control group (8.3%) group (X2=5.27, P=0.022, df=1, n=49). The simultaneous detection of all three of these antibodies could provide valuable information for the etiologic diagnosis of individuals with early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorders associated with streptococcal infection and, consequently, for prescribing suitable therapy.

It has been hypothesized that late adolescence and early adulthood might be a brain developmental stage favoring the clinical expression of psychotic symptoms in psychiatric or neurological diseases. The aim of the present survey was to examine the relationship between age and delusional ideation in a sample of subjects with no psychiatric disorder. The survey was carried out with the Aquitaine Sentinel Network of general practitioners. Consecutive practice attenders were invited to complete the PDI-21 (Peters Delusional Inventory 21 items), a self-report questionnaire designed to measure delusional ideation in the normal population. The study concerned 444 patients who had no lifetime history of psychiatric disorder and who completed the PDI-21. A principal component analysis of the PDI-21 items was performed in order to identify delusional dimensions. An age-related decrease in the likelihood to report delusional ideas was found, younger subjects scoring higher on most dimensions of delusional ideation, such as 'persecution', 'thought disturbance', 'grandiosity' and 'paranormal beliefs'. 'Religiosity' was the only dimension positively associated with age. The results suggest that there may be a physiological neurodevelopmental stage favouring the expression of psychosis proneness in normal subjects, and support the hypothesis that the association between age and positive psychotic symptoms in functional and organic psychoses may be linked to the interaction between normal brain maturational processes and cerebral abnormalities involved in the aetiology of functional and organic psychoses.

It is important for an occupational health service to plan health supervision and measures for shift and night workers considering the biorhythmic and psychosocial desynchronisation, as well as the frequent prevalence of combined effects of adverse environmental and working conditions. The measures taken should be preventive to reduce the expected health risks rather than being rehabilitative. Both a medical surveillance and a counselling service are recommended before and during engagement in shift and night work. Sleep, digestive, metabolic and cardiovascular troubles should be noted and followed up. Medical counselling is especially necessary in the first months of shift and night work exposure and then after long-term exposure. The postulate for timed surveillance and intervention is supported by data of our epidemiologic investigations. The importance of the single health measures is underlined by direct reference to the relevant literature. Recommendations that should be applied in all countries and enterprises are in accordance with the ILO Night Work Convention 1990a and include: (1) appropriate occupational health services provided for night and shift workers, including counselling; (2) first aid facilities during all shift hours; (3) the option of transfer to day work when certified unfit for night work for reasons of health; and (4) measures for women on night shifts, in particular special maternity protection (transfer to day work, social security benefits or an extension of maternity leave). Examples of occupational health services already installed in some states for shift and night workers, and information on future developments are given. Up to now the medical service has been implemented mostly on the basis of collective agreements rather than on the basis of legal provisions. The Austrian Night Shift/Heavy Work Law Regulations of 1981, revised 1993, are cited: workers exposed to night shifts under defined single or combined additional heavy

One major, yet poorly studied, change in the environment is nocturnal light pollution, which strongly alters habitats of nocturnally active species. Artificial night lighting is often considered as driving force behind rapid moth population declines in severely illuminated countries. To understand these declines, the question remains whether artificial light causes only increased mortality or also sublethal effects. We show that moths subjected to artificial night lighting spend less time feeding than moths in darkness, with the shortest time under light conditions rich in short wavelength radiation. These findings provide evidence for sublethal effects contributing to moth population declines. Because effects are strong under various types of light compared with dark conditions, the potential of spectral alterations as a conservation tool may be overestimated. Therefore, restoration and maintenance of darkness in illuminated areas is essential for reversing declines of moth populations. PMID:28250209

Objective To describe the subjective experiences of older adults with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease or related cognitive disorders (ADRD) and their family caregivers who participated in an art museum engagement activity. Methods Four focus groups were conducted with 10 persons with ADRD and 10 family caregivers following the completion one-time, three hour engagement activity. Participants also completed a brief satisfaction survey, and associations were examined using nonparametric statistics. Results Three key themes were identified: cognitive stimulation, social connections, and a sense of self. In addition, we identified programmatic issues such as activity-specific concerns and program logistics that could help improve future art program offerings. Past experience with art and perceived social cohesion were correlated with participants’ overall satisfaction with the program. Discussion Efforts aimed at improving the quality of life of those with Alzheimer’s and their family caregivers should consider the potential role of art museums. PMID:25216658

This study examined the impact of eating during simulated night shift on performance and subjective complaints. Subjects were randomized to eating at night (n=5; 23.2 ± 5.5 y) or not eating at night (n=5; 26.2 ± 6.4 y). All participants were given one sleep opportunity of 8 h (22:00 h-06:00 h) before transitioning to the night shift protocol. During the four days of simulated night shift participants were awake from 16:00 h-10:00 h with a daytime sleep of 6 h (10:00 h-16:00 h). In the simulated night shift protocol, meals were provided at ≈0700 h, 1900 h and 0130 h (eating at night); or ≈0700 h, 0930 h, 1410 h and 1900 h (not eating at night). Subjects completed sleepiness, hunger and gastric complaint scales, a Digit Symbol Substitution Task and a 10-min Psychomotor Vigilance Task. Increased sleepiness and performance impairment was evident in both conditions at 0400 h (p<0.05). Performance impairment at 0400 h was exacerbated when eating at night. Not eating at night was associated with elevated hunger and a small but significant elevation in stomach upset across the night (p<0.026). Eating at night was associated with elevated bloating on night one, which decreased across the protocol. Restricting food intake may limit performance impairments at night. Dietary recommendations to improve night-shift performance must also consider worker comfort. PMID:28740034

A disturbed day-night rhythm is associated with metabolic perturbations that can lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In skeletal muscle, a reduced oxidative capacity is also associated with the development of T2DM. However, whether oxidative capacity in skeletal muscle displays a day-night rhythm in humans has so far not been investigated. Lean, healthy subjects were enrolled in a standardized living protocol with regular meals, physical activity and sleep to reflect our everyday lifestyle. Mitochondrial oxidative capacity was examined in skeletal muscle biopsies taken at five time points within a 24-hour period. Core-body temperature was lower during the earlynight, confirming a normal day-night rhythm. Skeletal muscle oxidative capacity demonstrated a robust day-night rhythm, with a significant time effect in ADP-stimulated respiration (state 3 MO, state 3 MOG and state 3 MOGS, p

Early change is commonly assessed for manual therapy interventions and has been used to determine treatment appropriateness. However, current studies have only explored the relationship of between or within-session changes and short-/medium-term outcomes. The goal of this study was to determine whether pain changes after two weeks of pragmatic manual therapy could predict those participants with chronic low back pain who demonstrate continued improvements at 6-month follow-up. This study was a retrospective observational design. Univariate logistic regression analyses were performed using a 33% and a 50% pain change to predict improvement. Those who experienced a ≥33% pain reduction by 2 weeks had 6.98 (95% CI = 1.29, 37.53) times higher odds of 50% improvement on the GRoC and 4.74 (95% CI = 1.31, 17.17) times higher odds of 50% improvement on the ODI (at 6 months). Subjects who reported a ≥50% pain reduction at 2 weeks had 5.98 (95% CI = 1.56, 22.88) times higher odds of a 50% improvement in the GRoC and 3.99 (95% CI = 1.23, 12.88) times higher odds of a 50% improvement in the ODI (at 6 months). Future studies may investigate whether a change in plan of care is beneficial for patients who are not showing early improvement predictive of a good long-term outcome.

This image is a mosaic of day and night infrared images of Melas Chasma taken by NASA Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The daytime temperature images are shown in black and white, superimposed on the Martian topography.

The method used at airports in determining the cloud height at night is presented. Several problems, the equation used, and a simple design of an alidade (an instrument that shows cloud heights directly) are also included. (MP)

Olfactory impairment might be an important clinical marker and predictor of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the present study, we aimed to compare the degree of olfactory identification impairment in each mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subtype, subjective memory impairment, and early AD dementia and assessed the relationship between olfactory identification and cognitive performance. We consecutively included 50 patients with amnestic MCI, 28 patients with non-amnestic MCI, 20 patients with mild AD, and 17 patients with subjective memory impairment (SMI). All patients underwent clinical and neuropsychological assessments. A multiple choice olfactory identification cross-cultural smell identification test was also utilized. Controlling for age and gender, olfactory impairment was significantly more severe in patients with AD and amnestic MCI compared with the results from the non-amnestic MCI and SMI groups. Higher scores on MMSE, verbal and non-verbal memory, and frontal executive function tests were significantly related to olfactory identification ability. In conclusion, olfactory identification is impaired in amnestic MCI and AD. These findings are consistent with previous studies. In amnestic MCI patients, this dysfunction is considered to be caused by underlying AD pathology.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES A growing body of research has indicated that night eating could be associated with poor diet quality and negative health outcomes. This study examined the nutritional aspects of night eating, its related factors, and the association between night eating and body weight among Korean adolescents. SUBJECTS/METHODS This study analysed the data from a one day 24-hour dietary recall as well as a demographic survey of 1,738 Korean adolescents aged 12 to 18-years-old obtained from the 2010-2012 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. 'Night eating' was defined as consuming 25% or more of one's daily energy intake between 21:00 and 06:00. Subjects complying with the preceding condition were classified as 'night eaters', whereas the rest were considered 'non-night eaters'. Logistic regression analysis examined factors related to night eating. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between night eating and BMI z-scores, whereas multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between night eating and weight status. RESULTS About 21% of Korean adolescents appeared to be night eaters. Night eaters showed increased breakfast skipping (P = 0.001), higher energy intake from snacks (P < 0.001), greater proportion of energy intake from fat (P = 0.029), and lower Dietary Diversity Scores (P = 0.008) than non-night eaters. Male adolescents presented 1.9 times higher odds of being night eaters than females. Adolescents whose both parents were night eaters were 4.4 times as likely to be night eaters as those whose neither parents were. Female adolescents showed a significant relationship between night eating and BMI z-scores (β = 0.28, P = 0.004). However, night eating did not increase odds of being overweight or obese in adolescents. CONCLUSIONS Night eating in Korean adolescents was related to undesirable dietary behaviours and low diet quality in general as well as higher BMI z

To study dynamics of the upper atmosphere, we consider results of the night sky photometry, using a color CCD camera and taking into account the night airglow and features of its spectral composition. We use night airglow observations for 2010-2015, which have been obtained at the ISTP SB RAS Geophysical Observatory (52° N, 103° E) by the camera with KODAK KAI-11002 CCD sensor. We estimate the average brightness of the night sky in R, G, B channels of the color camera for eastern Siberia with typical values ranging from ~0.008 to 0.01 erg*cm-2*s-1. Besides, we determine seasonal variations in the night sky luminosities in R, G, B channels of the color camera. In these channels, luminosities decrease in spring, increase in autumn, and have a pronounced summer maximum, which can be explained by scattered light and is associated with the location of the Geophysical Observatory. We consider geophysical phenomena with their optical effects in R, G, B channels of the color camera. For some geophysical phenomena (geomagnetic storms, sudden stratospheric warmings), we demonstrate the possibility of the quantitative relationship between enhanced signals in R and G channels and increases in intensities of discrete 557.7 and 630 nm emissions, which are predominant in the airglow spectrum.

Neurobehavioural impairment on the first night shift is often greater than on subsequent night shifts due to extended wakefulness. The aim of the study was to determine whether a 1-h afternoon nap prior to the first night shift is sufficient to produce neurobehavioural performance at levels comparable to the second night shift. Twelve male volunteers (mean age 22.9 years) participated in a laboratory protocol that simulated two 12-h night shifts. A nap preceded the first shift and a 7-h daytime sleep was scheduled between shifts. Neurobehavioural performance and subjective sleepiness measured across each night did not significantly differ between first and second shifts.

We present optical UBVRI zenith night sky brightness measurements collected on 18 nights during 2013 to 2016 and SQM measurements obtained daily over 20 months during 2014 to 2016 at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional on the Sierra San Pedro Mártir (OAN-SPM) in México. The UBVRI data is based upon CCD images obtained with the 0.84 m and 2.12 m telescopes, while the SQM data is obtained with a high-sensitivity, low-cost photometer. The typical moonless night sky brightness at zenith averaged over the whole period is U = 22.68, B = 23.10, V = 21.84, R = 21.04, I = 19.36, and SQM = 21.88 {mag} {{arcsec}}-2, once corrected for zodiacal light. We find no seasonal variation of the night sky brightness measured with the SQM. The typical night sky brightness values found at OAN-SPM are similar to those reported for other astronomical dark sites at a similar phase of the solar cycle. We find a trend of decreasing night sky brightness with decreasing solar activity during period of the observations. This trend implies that the sky has become darker by Δ U = 0.7, Δ B = 0.5, Δ V = 0.3, Δ R=0.5 mag arcsec-2 since early 2014 due to the present solar cycle.

The World at Night (TWAN) is a global program to produce, collect, and present stunning photographs and time-lapse videos of the world's most beautiful and historic sites against the night-time backdrop of stars, planets, and celestial events. TWAN is a bridge between art, science and humanity to bring the message of peace, concealed in the sky. Organised by ``Astronomers Without Borders'', the project consist of world's best night sky photographers in over countries and coordinators, regional event organisers, and consultants. TWAN was also designated as a Special Project of the International Year of Astronomy 2009. While the project's global exhibitions and educational events peaked during IYA2009, TWAN is planned for long term in several phases and will continue to create and exhibit images in the next years.

Before the completion of visual development, visual deprivation impairs synaptic elimination in the visual cortex. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the distribution of central benzodiazepine receptor (BZR) is also altered in the visual cortex in subjects with early-onset blindness. Positron emission tomography was carried out with [(15)O]water and [(11)C]flumazenil on six blind subjects and seven sighted controls at rest. We found that the CBF was significantly higher in the visual cortex for the early-onset blind subjects than for the sighted control subjects. However, there was no significant difference in the BZR distribution in the visual cortex for the subject with early-onset blindness than for the sighted control subjects. These results demonstrated that early visual deprivation does not affect the distribution of GABA(A) receptors in the visual cortex with the sensitivity of our measurements. Synaptic elimination may be independent of visual experience in the GABAergic system of the human visual cortex during visual development.

Short sleep episodes are common in modern society. We recently demonstrated that short nights reduce phase advances to light. Here we show that short nights also reduce phase delays to light. Two weeks of 6-hour sleep episodes in the dark (short nights) and 2 weeks of long 9-hour sleep episodes (long nights) in counterbalanced order, separated by 7 days. Following each series of nights, there was a dim-light phase assessment to assess baseline phase. Three days later, subjects were exposed to a phase-delaying light stimulus for 2 days, followed by a final phase assessment. Subjects slept at home in dark bedrooms but came to the laboratory for the phase assessments and light stimulus. Seven young healthy subjects. The 3.5-hour light stimulus was four 30-minute pulses of bright light (-5000 lux) separated by 30-minute intervals of room light. The stimulus began 2.5 hours after each subject's dim-light melatonin onset, followed by a 6- or 9-hour sleep episode. On the second night, the bright light and sleep episode began 1 hour later. The dim-light melatonin onset and dimlight melatonin offset phase delayed 1.4 and 0.7 hours less in the short nights, respectively (both p < or = .015). These results indicate for the first time that short nights can reduce circadian phase delays, that long nights can increase phase delays to light, or both. People who curtail their sleep may inadvertently reduce their circadian responsiveness to evening light.

A medium-sized portable digital recorder with fully integrated circuit (IC) memories for sleep monitoring has been developed. It has five amplifiers for EEG, EMG, EOG, ECG, and a signal of body acceleration or respiration sound, four event markers, an 8 ch A/D converter, a digital signal processor (DSP), 192 Mbytes IC flash memories, and batteries. The whole system weighs 1200 g including batteries and is put into a small bag worn on the subject's waist or carried in their hand. The sampling rate for each input channel is programmable through the DSP. This apparatus is valuable for continuously monitoring the states of sleep-wakefulness over 24 h, making a night-day-night recording possible in a hospital, home, or car.

Double beams shoot into the night sky during the Internation Observe the Moon night event. Goddard's Laser Ranging Facility directs a laser toward the Lunar Reconassaince Orbiter on International Observe the Moon Night. (Sept 18, 2010) Background on laser ranging: www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/LRO_lr.html Credit: NASA/GSFC/Debbie Mccallum On September 18, 2010 the world joined the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Md., as well as other NASA Centers to celebrate the first annual International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN). To read more go to: www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/features/2010/moon-nigh... NASA Goddard Space Flight Center contributes to NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s endeavors by providing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Join us on Facebook

During late-night flash (LNF) mode (from late night to early morning hours), traffic signals flash yellow for one road (typically, the major road), requiring caution but no stopping, and flash red for the other road (typically, the minor road), requi...

This dissertation examines journalists' early encounters with computers as tools for news reporting, focusing on election-night forecasting in 1952. Although election night 1952 is frequently mentioned in histories of computing and journalism as a quirky but seminal episode, it has received little scholarly attention. This dissertation asks how…

Working the night shift interferes with the circadian chronobiological rhythm, causing sleep disturbances, fatigue, and diminished wellbeing, and increases the risk of serious disease. The question whether night work increases the risk of depression has not been adequately studied to date. We carried out a systematic, broadly conceived literature search in the PubMed, Scopus, PsycINFO, and PSYNDEX databases and the Medpilot search portal on the topic of nighttime shift work and mental illness. The search yielded 5682 hits, which were narrowed down by predefined selection criteria to 11 high-quality longitudinal studies on the relationship between nighttime shift work and depressive illness. Only these 11 studies were subjected to further analysis. 3 of 4 studies on nighttime shift work in the health professions (almost exclusively nursing) revealed no association with depression over an observation period of two years. On the other hand, 5 studies on nighttime shift work in occupations outside the health sector, with observation periods of two or more years, yielded evidence of an elevated risk of depression after several years of nighttime shift work, but not in any uniform pattern. A supplementary meta-analysis of 5 of the studies revealed a 42% increase of the risk of depression among persons working the night shift (95% confidence interval [0.92; 2.19]). Psychosocial working conditions that have a negative influence on health partially account for these associations. Although there is evidence that nighttime shift work (at least, in occupations outside the health sector) does increase the risk of depression, this evidence is not strong enough to sustain a general medical recommendation against shift work for employees with depressive conditions. It would seem appropriate to address this question on an individual basis, with strong support from physicians and close attention to the deleterious psychosocial factors associated with shift work.

It is well known that physicians' night-call duty may cause impaired performance and adverse effects on subjective health, but there is limited knowledge about effects on sleep duration and recovery time. In recent years occupational stress and impaired well-being among anaesthesiologists have been frequently reported for in the scientific literature. Given their main focus on handling patients with life-threatening conditions, when on call, one might expect sleep and recovery to be negatively affected by work, especially in this specialist group. The aim of the present study was to examine whether a 16-hour night-call schedule allowed for sufficient recovery in anaesthesiologists compared with other physician specialists handling less life-threatening conditions, when on call. Sleep, monitored by actigraphy and Karolinska Sleep Diary/Sleepiness Scale on one night after daytime work, one night call, the following first and second nights post-call, and a Saturday night, was compared between 15 anaesthesiologists and 17 paediatricians and ear, nose, and throat surgeons. Recovery patterns over the days after night call did not differ between groups, but between days. Mean night sleep for all physicians was 3 hours when on call, 7 h both nights post-call and Saturday, and 6 h after daytime work (p < 0.001). Scores for mental fatigue and feeling well rested were poorer post-call, but returned to Sunday morning levels after two nights' sleep. Despite considerable sleep loss during work on night call, and unexpectedly short sleep after ordinary day work, the physicians' self-reports indicate full recovery after two nights' sleep. We conclude that these 16-hour night duties were compatible with a short-term recovery in both physician groups, but the limited sleep duration in general still implies a long-term health concern. These results may contribute to the establishment of safe working hours for night-call duty in physicians and other health-care workers.

Background It is well known that physicians' night-call duty may cause impaired performance and adverse effects on subjective health, but there is limited knowledge about effects on sleep duration and recovery time. In recent years occupational stress and impaired well-being among anaesthesiologists have been frequently reported for in the scientific literature. Given their main focus on handling patients with life-threatening conditions, when on call, one might expect sleep and recovery to be negatively affected by work, especially in this specialist group. The aim of the present study was to examine whether a 16-hour night-call schedule allowed for sufficient recovery in anaesthesiologists compared with other physician specialists handling less life-threatening conditions, when on call. Methods Sleep, monitored by actigraphy and Karolinska Sleep Diary/Sleepiness Scale on one night after daytime work, one night call, the following first and second nights post-call, and a Saturday night, was compared between 15 anaesthesiologists and 17 paediatricians and ear, nose, and throat surgeons. Results Recovery patterns over the days after night call did not differ between groups, but between days. Mean night sleep for all physicians was 3 hours when on call, 7 h both nights post-call and Saturday, and 6 h after daytime work (p < 0.001). Scores for mental fatigue and feeling well rested were poorer post-call, but returned to Sunday morning levels after two nights' sleep. Conclusions Despite considerable sleep loss during work on night call, and unexpectedly short sleep after ordinary day work, the physicians' self-reports indicate full recovery after two nights' sleep. We conclude that these 16-hour night duties were compatible with a short-term recovery in both physician groups, but the limited sleep duration in general still implies a long-term health concern. These results may contribute to the establishment of safe working hours for night-call duty in physicians and

This study evaluates knee joint loading during gait and step-up-and-over tasks in control subjects, subjects with early knee OA and those with established knee OA. Thirty-seven subjects with varying degrees of medial compartment knee OA severity (eighteen with early OA and sixteen with established OA), and nineteen healthy controls performed gait and step-up-and-over tasks. Knee joint moments, contact forces (KCF), the magnitude of contact pressures and center of pressure (CoP) location were analyzed for the three groups for both activities using a multi-body knee model with articular cartilage contact, 14 ligaments, and six degrees of freedom tibiofemoral and patellofemoral joints. During gait, the first peak of the medial KCF was significantly higher for patients with early knee OA (p = 0.048) and established knee OA (p = 0.001) compared to control subjects. Furthermore, the medial contact pressure magnitudes and CoP location were significantly different in both groups of patients compared to controls. Knee rotation moments (KRMs) and external rotation angles were significantly higher during early stance in both patient groups (p < 0.0001) compared to controls. During step-up-and-over, there was a high variability between the participants and no significant differences in KCF were observed between the groups. Knee joint loading and kinematics were found to be altered in patients with early knee OA only during gait. This is an indication that an excessive medial KCF and altered loading location, observed in these patients, is a contributor to early progression of knee OA. PMID:29117248

Summary We aimed to investigate how early and late work shifts influenced the diurnal cortisol rhythm using a within-subjects study design. Participants were 30 healthy male non-smoking pilots, mean age 39.4, employed by a short-haul airline. The standard rotating shift pattern consisted of 5 early shifts (starting before 0600 h), followed by 3 rest days, 5 late shifts (starting after 1200 h) and 4 rest days. Pilots sampled saliva and completed subjective mood ratings in a logbook 6 times over the day on two consecutive early shift days, two late days and two rest days. Sampling was scheduled at waking, waking + 30 m, waking + 2.5 h, waking + 8 h, waking + 12 h and bedtime. Waking time, sleep duration, sleep quality and working hours were also recorded. Cortisol responses were analysed with repeated measures analysis of variance with shift condition (early, late, rest) and sample time (1–6) as within-subject factors. Early shifts were associated with a higher cortisol increase in response to awakening (CARi), a greater total cortisol output over the day (AUCG) and a slower rate of decline over the day than late shifts or rest days. Early shifts were also associated with shorter sleep duration but co-varying for sleep duration did not alter the effects of shift on the cortisol rhythm. Both types of work shift were associated with more stress, tiredness and lower happiness than rest days, but statistical adjustment for mood ratings did not alter the findings. Early shift days were associated with significantly higher levels of circulating cortisol during waking hours than late shifts or rest days. PMID:22877997

Volunteer Billy Hix with his telescope at International Observe the Moon Night. The event, hosted by the Planetary Missions Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, encourages observation and appreciation of the Moon and its connection to NASA planetary science and exploration, as well as our cultural and personal connections to it. Children attending the event had the opportunity to participate in planetary, science-based, hands-on activities

A volunteer assists an eager participant at International Observe the Moon Night Oct. 28 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. The event, hosted by the Planetary Missions Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, encourages observation and appreciation of the Moon and its connection to NASA planetary science and exploration, as well as our cultural and personal connections to it. Children attending the event had the opportunity to participate in planetary, science-based, hands-on activities

Using laboratory simulations, visual performance was measured at luminance and night vision imaging system (NVIS) radiance levels typically encountered in the natural nocturnal environment. Comparisons were made between visual performance with unaided vision and that observed with subjects using image intensification. An Amplified Night Vision Imaging System (ANVIS6) binocular image intensifier was used. Light levels available in the experiments (using video display technology and filters) were matched to those of reflecting objects illuminated by representative night-sky conditions (e.g., full moon, starlight). Results show that as expected, the precipitous decline in foveal acuity experienced with decreasing mesopic luminance levels is effectively shifted to much lower light levels by use of an image intensification system. The benefits of intensification are most pronounced foveally, but still observable at 20 deg eccentricity. Binocularity provides a small improvement in visual acuity under both intensified and unintensified conditions.

NASA image acquired November 11-12, 2012. On November 12, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured the top nighttime image of city, village, and highway lights near Delhi, India. For comparison, the lower image shows the same area one night earlier, as observed by the Operational Line Scan (OLS) system on a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft. Since the 1960s, the U.S. Air Force has operated DMSP in order to observe clouds and other weather variables in key wavelengths of infrared and visible light. Since 1972, the DMSP satellites have included the Operational Linescan System (OLS), which gives weather forecasters some ability to see in the dark. It has been a highly successful sensor, but it is dependent on older technology with lower resolution than most scientists would like. And for many years, DMSP data were classified. Through improved optics and “smart” sensing technology, the VIIRS “day-night band,” is ten to fifteen times better than the OLS system at resolving the relatively dim lights of human settlements and reflected moonlight. Each VIIRS pixel shows roughly 740 meters (0.46 miles) across, compared to the 3-kilometer footprint (1.86 miles) of DMSP. Beyond the resolution, the new sensor can detect dimmer light sources. And since the VIIRS measurements are fully calibrated (unlike DMSP), scientists now have the precision required to make quantitative measurements of clouds and other features. “In contrast to the Operational Line Scan system, the imagery from the new day-night band is almost like a nearsighted person putting on glasses for the first time and looking at the Earth anew,” says Steve Miller, an atmospheric scientist at Colorado State University. “VIIRS has allowed us to bring this coarse, blurry view of night lights into clearer focus. Now we can see things in such great detail and at such high precision that we’re really talking about a new kind of

Although conduct disorder (CD) is associated with an increased susceptibility to substance use disorders, little is known about decision-making processes or reward mechanisms in CD. This study investigated decision making under varying motivational conditions in CD. Performances on the Risky Choice Task (RCT) and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were assessed in 156 adolescents (84 control subjects, 34 with adolescence-onset CD, and 38 with early-onset CD). The RCT was performed twice, once under normal motivational conditions and once under conditions of increased motivation and psychosocial stress. Increased motivation and stress led to more cautious decision making and changes in framing effects on the RCT in all groups, although such effects were least pronounced in the early-onset CD group. Participants from both CD subgroups selected the risky choice more frequently than control subjects. Under normal motivational conditions, early-onset CD participants chose the risky choice more frequently in trials occurring after small gains, relative to control subjects and adolescence-onset CD participants. Following adjustment for IQ differences, the groups did not differ significantly in terms of WCST performance. Differences in decision making between control subjects and individuals with CD suggest that the balance between sensitivity to reward and punishment is shifted in this disorder, particularly the early-onset form. Our data on modulation of decision making according to previous outcomes suggest altered reward mechanisms in early-onset CD. The WCST data suggest that impairments in global executive function do not underlie altered decision making in CD.

In general, sleeping and activity patterns vary between individuals. This attribute, known as chronotype, may affect night shift performance. In the intensive care unit (ICR), night shift performance may impact patient safety. We have investigated the effect of chronotype and social demographics on sleepiness, fatigue, and night shift on the performance of nurses. This was a prospective observational cohort study which assessed the performance of 96 ICU night shift nurses during the day and night shifts in a mixed medical-surgical ICU in the Netherlands. We determined chronotype and assessed sleeping behaviour for each nurse prior to starting shift work and before free days. The level of sleepiness and fatigue of nurses during the day and night shifts was determined, as was the effect of these conditions on psychomotor vigilance and mathematical problem-solving. The majority of ICU nurses had a preference for early activity (morning chronotype). Compared to their counterparts (i.e. evening chronotypes), they were more likely to nap before commencing night shifts and more likely to have young children living at home. Despite increased sleepiness and fatigue during night shifts, no effect on psychomotor vigilance was observed during night shifts. Problem-solving accuracy remained high during night shifts, at the cost of productivity. Most of the ICU night shift nurses assessed here appeared to have adapted well to night shift work, despite the high percentage of morning chronotypes, possibly due to their 8-h shift duration. Parental responsibilities may, however, influence shift work tolerance.

A 59-year-old man presented with a 3-month history of night blindness and a 9-month history of steatorrhea. Both symptoms had appeared after he had begun taking methyltestosterone. Investigations revealed low serum levels of carotene (0.1 mmol/L) and vitamin A (0.4 to 0.7 mmol/L), anomalous colour perception, elevation of the rod threshold by 3.5 log units in dark adaptometry, and decreased b-wave amplitudes in photopic and scotopic electroretinograms. No biochemical evidence of cholestasis was elicited. The symptoms and the biochemical and electrophysiologic abnormalities resolved within 9 months of the discontinuation of methyltestosterone.

This article constitutes an attempt to investigate how student teachers and teacher educators in the context of Swedish early childhood teacher education are invented and reinvented by practices that are inspired by feminist and post-structural thinking. I give examples of practice that explicitly make use of different aspects of the personal,…

Research shows that children facing socioeconomic risk often have poorer skills at school entry, greater difficulty adjusting to school, more negative school experiences, and lower scholastic achievement, relative to their peers. However, the promotion of positive early school experiences is constrained by a lack of insight into disadvantaged…

Research on predictors of young children's psychosocial well-being currently relies on adult-reported outcomes. This study investigated whether early family circumstances and parenting predict 7-year-olds' subjective well-being. Information on supportive friendships, liking school and life satisfaction was obtained from 7-year-olds in one Growing Up in Scotland birth cohort in 2012-2013 (N = 2869). Mothers provided information on early childhood factors from 10 to 34 months, parenting (dysfunctional parenting, home learning and protectiveness) from 46 to 70 months, and 7-year-olds' adjustment. Multivariable path models explored associations between early childhood factors, parenting and 7-year-olds' subjective well-being. Supplementary analyses compared findings with those for mother-reported adjustment. In a model of early childhood factors, maternal distress predicted less supportive friendships and lower life satisfaction (coefficients -0.12), poverty predicted less supportive friendships (-0.09) and remote location predicted all outcomes (-0.20 to -0.27). In a model with parenting added, dysfunctional parenting predicted all outcomes (-10 to -0.16), home learning predicted liking school (0.11) and life satisfaction (0.08), and protectiveness predicted life satisfaction (0.08). Effects of maternal distress were fully mediated, largely via dysfunctional parenting, while home learning mediated negative effects of low maternal education. Direct effects of poverty and remote location remained. Findings for mother-reported child adjustment were broadly similar. Unique prospective data show parenting and early childhood impact 7-year-olds' subjective well-being. They underline the benefits for children of targeting parental mental health and dysfunctional parenting, and helping parents develop skills to support children at home and school.

Circulating microparticles (MPs) are novel potential biomarkers in cancer patients. Their role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is under intensive investigation. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that MPs expressing the antigen HepPar1 are increased in the blood of subjects with HCC and may serve as markers of early recurrence after liver resection (LR). We studied 15 patients affected by HCC undergoing LR, and used flow cytometry to assess the number of circulating HepPar1+ MPs. Ten subjects without HCC (five with liver cirrhosis and five with healthy livers) were used as controls. After LR, HCC patients underwent a follow-up to check for early recurrence, which occurred in seven cases. The number of circulating HepPar1+ MPs was significantly higher in subjects affected by HCC, compared to individuals without cancer (p < 0.01). We also found that, among HCC patients, the number of circulating HepPar1+ MPs, measured before LR, was significantly higher in those who displayed early recurrence compared to those without recurrence (p = 0.02). Of note, other types of circulating MPs, such as those derived from endothelial cells (CD144+) or those produced by the activated endothelium (CD144+/CD62+), were not associated with HCC, nor could they predict HCC recurrence. HepPar1+ MPs deserve further investigation as novel biomarkers of disease and prognosis in HCC patients. PMID:28498353

NASA image acquired August 29, 2012 1:57 a.m EDT Hurricane Isaac lit up by moonlight as it spins over the city of New Orleans, La. at 1:57 am central daylight savings time the morning of August 29, 2012. The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite captured these images with its Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). The "day-night band" of VIIRS detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses light intensification to enable the detection of dim signals. Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Defense. Image Credit: NASA/NOAA, Earth Observatory NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using VIIRS Day Night Band data. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

This study investigates the emergence and development of the discourse-pragmatic functions of the Japanese subject markers "wa" and "ga" from a usage-based perspective (Tomasello, 2000). The use of each marker in longitudinal speech data for four Japanese children from 1;0 to 3;1 and their parents available in the CHILDES…

Adolescent alcohol involvement is associated with numerous negative outcomes, but also appears to have positive correlates, including subjective well-being. Additional research is needed to understand these paradoxical findings. The current study examines alcohol use, adverse alcohol-related (and other substance-related) consequences, and…

Night shift work has been linked to some chronic diseases. Modification of lifestyle by night work may partially contribute to the development of these diseases, nevertheless, so far epidemiological evidence is limited. The aim of the study was to explore association between night shift work and lifestyle factors using data from a cross-sectional study among blue-collar workers employed in industrial plants in Łódź, Poland. The anonymous questionnaire was self-administered among 605 employees (236 women and 369 men, aged 35 or more) - 434 individuals currently working night shifts. Distribution of the selected lifestyle related factors such as smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activity, body mass index (BMI), number of main meals and the hour of the last meal was compared between current, former, and never night shift workers. Adjusted ORs or predicted means were calculated, as a measure of the associations between night shift work and lifestyle factors, with age, marital status and education included in the models as covariates. Recreational inactivity (defined here as less than one hour per week of recreational physical activity) was associated with current night shift work when compared to never night shift workers (OR = 2.43, 95% CI: 1.13-5.22) among men. Alcohol abstinence and later time of the last meal was associated with night shift work among women. Statistically significant positive relationship between night shift work duration and BMI was observed among men (p = 0.029). This study confirms previous studies reporting lower exercising among night shift workers and tendency to increase body weight. This finding provides important public health implication for the prevention of chronic diseases among night shift workers. Initiatives promoting physical activity addressed in particular to the night shift workers are recommended.

... employee regularly assigned to a night shift who is temporarily assigned to a day shift or to a night shift... regularly assigned to a day shift who is temporarily assigned to a night shift shall be paid a night shift... schedule involving work on both day and night shifts shall be paid a night shift differential only for any...

Type 1 diabetes results from an immunemediated destruction of beta-cells, likely to be mediated by T lymphocytes, but the sensitivity, specificity, and other measures of validity of existing assays for islet autoreactive T-cells are not well established. Such assays are vital for monitoring responses to interventions that may modulate disease progression. We studied the ability of cellular assays to discriminate responses in patients with type 1 diabetes and normal control subjects in a randomized blinded study in the U.S. and U.K. We evaluated the reproducibility of these measurements overall and to individual analytes from repeat collections. Responses in the cellular immunoblot, U.K.-ELISPOT, and T-cell proliferation assays could differentiate patients from control subjects with odds ratios of 21.7, 3.44, and 3.36, respectively, with sensitivity and specificity as high as 74 and 88%. The class II tetramer and U.S. ELISPOT assays performed less well. Despite the significant association of the responses with type 1 diabetes, the reproducibility of the measured responses, both overall and individual analytes, was relatively low. Positive samples from normal control subjects (i.e., false positives) were generally isolated to single assays. The cellular immunoblot, U.K.-ELISPOT, and T-cell proliferation assays can distinguish responses from patients with type 1 diabetes and healthy control subjects. The limited reproducibility of the measurements overall and of responses to individual analytes may reflect the difficulty in detection of low frequency of antigen-specific T-cells or variability in their appearance in peripheral blood.

Released 16 June 2004 This pair of images shows part of Lomonosov Crater.

Day/Night Infrared Pairs

The image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top.

Infrared image interpretation

Daytime: Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark.

Nighttime: Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through

Released 15 June 2004 This pair of images shows part of the Ares Valles region.

Day/Night Infrared Pairs

The image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top.

Infrared image interpretation

Daytime: Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark.

Nighttime: Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released

Released 17 June 2004 This pair of images shows part of a small channel.

Day/Night Infrared Pairs

The image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top.

Infrared image interpretation

Daytime: Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark.

Nighttime: Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through

This image is a mosaic of day and night infrared images of Melas Chasma taken by the camera system on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. The daytime temperature images are shown in black and white, superimposed on the martian topography. A single nighttime temperature image is superimposed in color. The daytime temperatures range from approximately -35 degrees Celsius (-31 degrees Fahrenheit) in black to -5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) in white. Overlapping landslides and individual layers in the walls of Melas Chasma can be seen in this image. The landslides flowed over 100 kilometers (62 miles) across the floor of Melas Chasma, producing deposits with ridges and grooves of alternating warm and cold materials that can still be seen. The temperature differences in the daytime images are due primarily to lighting effects, where sunlit slopes are warm (bright) and shadowed slopes are cool (dark). The nighttime temperature differences are due to differences in the abundance of rocky materials that retain their heat at night and stay relatively warm (red). Fine grained dust and sand (blue) cools off more rapidly at night. These images were acquired using the thermal infrared imaging system infrared Band 9, centered at 12.6 micrometers.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science in Washington, D.C. Investigators at Arizona State University in Tempe, the University of Arizona in Tucson and NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, operate the science instruments. Additional science partners are located at the Russian Aviation and Space Agency and at Los Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL. Aviation and Space Agency and at Los Alamos National

A revolutionary new Night Vision System has been designed to help drivers see well beyond their headlights. From luxury automobiles to heavy trucks, Night Vision is helping drivers see better, see further, and react sooner. This paper describes how Night Vision Systems are being used in transportation and their viability for the future. It describes recent improvements to the system currently in the second year of production. It also addresses consumer education and awareness, cost reduction, product reliability, market expansion and future improvements.

A young boy views the moon through a hand made telescope at VC. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Debbie Mccallum On September 18, 2010 the world joined the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Md., as well as other NASA Centers to celebrate the first annual International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN). To read more go to: www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/features/2010/moon-nigh... NASA Goddard Space Flight Center contributes to NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s endeavors by providing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Join us on Facebook

Cathie Peddie - Deputy Project Manager LRO (center) shows a young visitor shadows demo. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Debbie Mccallum On September 18, 2010 the world joined the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Md., as well as other NASA Centers to celebrate the first annual International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN). To read more go to: www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/features/2010/moon-nigh... NASA Goddard Space Flight Center contributes to NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s endeavors by providing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Join us on Facebook

A document describes a simple night sky display system that is portable, lightweight, and includes, at most, four components in its simplest configuration. The total volume of this system is no more than 10(sup 6) cm(sup 3) in a disassembled state, and weighs no more than 20 kilograms. The four basic components are a computer, a projector, a spherical light-reflecting first surface and mount, and a spherical second surface for display. The computer has temporary or permanent memory that contains at least one signal representing one or more images of a portion of the sky when viewed from an arbitrary position, and at a selected time. The first surface reflector is spherical and receives and reflects the image from the projector onto the second surface, which is shaped like a hemisphere. This system may be used to simulate selected portions of the night sky, preserving the appearance and kinesthetic sense of the celestial sphere surrounding the Earth or any other point in space. These points will then show motions of planets, stars, galaxies, nebulae, and comets that are visible from that position. The images may be motionless, or move with the passage of time. The array of images presented, and vantage points in space, are limited only by the computer software that is available, or can be developed. An optional approach is to have the screen (second surface) self-inflate by means of gas within the enclosed volume, and then self-regulate that gas in order to support itself without any other mechanical support.

In moderate climates night ventilation is an effective and energy-efficient approach to improve the indoor thermal environment for office buildings during the summer months, especially for heavyweight construction. However, is night ventilation a suitable strategy for office buildings with lightweight construction located in cold climates? In order to answer this question, the whole energy-consumption analysis software EnergyPlus was used to simulate the indoor thermal environment and energy consumption in typical office buildings with night mechanical ventilation in three cities in northern China. The summer outdoor climate data was analyzed, and three typical design days were chosen. The most important factorsmore » influencing night ventilation performance such as ventilation rates, ventilation duration, building mass and climatic conditions were evaluated. When night ventilation operation time is closer to active cooling time, the efficiency of night ventilation is higher. With night ventilation rate of 10 ach, the mean radiant temperature of the indoor surface decreased by up to 3.9 C. The longer the duration of operation, the more efficient the night ventilation strategy becomes. The control strategies for three locations are given in the paper. Based on the optimized strategies, the operation consumption and fees are calculated. The results show that more energy is saved in office buildings cooled by a night ventilation system in northern China than ones that do not employ this strategy. (author)« less

The aim of the present study was to determine the direct effect of night-work on the occurrence of obstructive apneas during sleep after a night shift in fast-rotating shift workers with sleep-related breathing disorders. Eight obstructive sleep apnea patients were examined with the use of a polysomnograph during sleep under two conditions: after day-shift work and after night-shift work. Both sleep studies were conducted within 2 to 3 weeks of each other. In four of the 8 subjects, during sleep after a night-shift, an increase in apnea/hypopnea index was found. Night work significantly increased several breathing variables: total duration of obstructive apneas during REM sleep, mean duration of obstructive apneas during arousal, and apnea index during arousal. We conclude that in a subpopulation of sleep apnea patients, acute sleep deprivation may worsen obstructive sleep apnea index.

The study of initial microbial colonization on dental surfaces is a field of intensive research because of the aetiological role of biofilms in oral diseases. Most previous studies of de novo accumulation and composition of dental biofilms in vivo do not differentiate between biofilms formed during day and night. This study hypothesized that there is a diurnal variation in the rate of accumulation of bacteria on solid surfaces in the oral cavity. In situ biofilm from healthy individuals was collected for 12 h during day and night, respectively, subjected to fluorescent in situ hybridization and visualized using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Analysis of the biofilms using stereological methods and digital image analysis revealed a consistent statistically significant difference between both the total number of bacteria and the biovolume in the two 12-h groups (p = 0.012), with the highest accumulation of bacteria during daytime (a factor of 8.8 and 6.1 higher, respectively). Hybridization with probes specific for streptococci and Actinomyces naeslundii indicated a higher proportion of streptococci in biofilms grown during daytime as compared to night-time. No differences could be observed for A. naeslundii. The degree of microbial coverage and the bacterial composition varied considerably between different individuals. The data provide firm evidence that initial biofilm formation decreases during the night, which may reflect differences in the availability of salivary nutrients. This finding is of significant importance when studying population dynamics during experimental dental biofilm formation.

To determine whether analgesic use for painful procedures performed in neonates in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) differs during nights and days and during each of the 6 h period of the day. Conducted as part of the prospective observational Epidemiology of Painful Procedures in Neonates study which was designed to collect in real time and around-the-clock bedside data on all painful or stressful procedures. 13 NICUs and paediatric intensive care units in the Paris Region, France. All 430 neonates admitted to the participating units during a 6-week period between September 2005 and January 2006. During the first 14 days of admission, data were collected on all painful procedures and analgesic therapy. The five most frequent procedures representing 38 012 of all 42 413 (90%) painful procedures were analysed. Observational study. We compared the use of specific analgesic for procedures performed during each of the 6 h period of a day: morning (7:00 to 12:59), afternoon, earlynight and late night and during daytime (morning+afternoon) and night-time (earlynight+late night). 7724 of 38 012 (20.3%) painful procedures were carried out with a specific analgesic treatment. For morning, afternoon, earlynight and late night, respectively, the use of analgesic was 25.8%, 18.9%, 18.3% and 18%. The relative reduction of analgesia was 18.3%, p<0.01, between daytime and night-time and 28.8%, p<0.001, between morning and the rest of the day. Parental presence, nurses on 8 h shifts and written protocols for analgesia were associated with a decrease in this difference. The substantial differences in the use of analgesics around-the-clock may be questioned on quality of care grounds.

Objective To determine whether analgesic use for painful procedures performed in neonates in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) differs during nights and days and during each of the 6 h period of the day. Design Conducted as part of the prospective observational Epidemiology of Painful Procedures in Neonates study which was designed to collect in real time and around-the-clock bedside data on all painful or stressful procedures. Setting 13 NICUs and paediatric intensive care units in the Paris Region, France. Participants All 430 neonates admitted to the participating units during a 6-week period between September 2005 and January 2006. Data collection During the first 14 days of admission, data were collected on all painful procedures and analgesic therapy. The five most frequent procedures representing 38 012 of all 42 413 (90%) painful procedures were analysed. Intervention Observational study. Main outcome assessment We compared the use of specific analgesic for procedures performed during each of the 6 h period of a day: morning (7:00 to 12:59), afternoon, earlynight and late night and during daytime (morning+afternoon) and night-time (earlynight+late night). Results 7724 of 38 012 (20.3%) painful procedures were carried out with a specific analgesic treatment. For morning, afternoon, earlynight and late night, respectively, the use of analgesic was 25.8%, 18.9%, 18.3% and 18%. The relative reduction of analgesia was 18.3%, p<0.01, between daytime and night-time and 28.8%, p<0.001, between morning and the rest of the day. Parental presence, nurses on 8 h shifts and written protocols for analgesia were associated with a decrease in this difference. Conclusions The substantial differences in the use of analgesics around-the-clock may be questioned on quality of care grounds. PMID:24556241

Short naps on night shift are recommended in some industries. There is a paucity of evidence to verify the sustained recovery benefits of short naps in the last few hours of the night shift. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the sustained recovery benefits of 30 and 10-min nap opportunities during a simulated night shift. Thirty-one healthy participants (18F, 21-35 y) completed a 3-day, between-groups laboratory study with one baseline night (22:00-07:00 h time in bed), followed by one night awake (time awake from 07:00 h on day two through 10:00 h day three) with random allocation to: a 10-min nap opportunity ending at 04:00 h, a 30-min nap opportunity ending at 04:00 h or no nap (control). A neurobehavioral test bout was administered approximately every 2 h during wake periods. There were no significant differences between nap conditions for post-nap psychomotor vigilance performance after controlling for pre-nap scores (p > 0.05). The 30-min nap significantly improved subjective sleepiness compared to the 10-min nap and no-nap control (p < 0.05). The 10-min nap significantly worsened negative mood compared to the 30-min nap and no-nap control (p < 0.01). Contrary to some evidence suggesting "power naps" can help to alleviate performance decrements, a 30-min nap opportunity at approximately 04:00 h was found to improve subjective, but not objective sleepiness. A 10-min nap may lead to increased negative mood in the hours following the nap due to a "short nap aversion" effect.

The aim is to show how different definitions affect the proportion of shifts classified as night shifts. The Danish Working Hour Database was used to calculate number of night shifts according to eight definitions. More than 98% of the total night shifts were night shifts by use of both the reference definition (at least 3 h of work between 24:00 and 05:00) and definitions using a period during the night. The overlap with definitions based on starting and ending time was less pronounced (64-71 %). The proportion of classified night shifts differs little when night shifts are based on definitions including a period during the night. Studies based on other definitions may be less comparable.

Sleep bruxism (SB) is reported to vary in frequency over time. The aim of this study was to assess the first night effect on SB. A retrospective polysomnographic (PSG) analysis was performed of data from a sample of SB patients (12 females, 4 males; age range: 17-39 years) recorded in a sleep laboratory over 2 consecutive nights. Sleep parameters and jaw muscle activity variables (i.e., rhythmic masticatory muscle activity [RMMA]) for SB were quantified and compared between the 2 nights. Subjects were classified into groups according to severity of RMMA frequency, such as low frequency (2-4 episodes/h and/or < 25 bursts/h) and moderate-high frequency (≥ 4 episodes/h and ≥ 25 bursts/h). Overall, no first night effects were found for most sleep variables. However, total sleep time, sleep efficiency, and stage transitions showed significant time and group interactions (repeated measures ANOVAs, p ≤ 0.05). The RMMA episode index did not differ between the 2 nights, whereas the second night showed significantly higher burst index, bruxism time index, and mean burst duration (repeated measure ANOVAs, p ≤ 0.05). Five patients of 8 in the low frequency group were classified into the moderate-high frequency group on the second night, whereas only one patient in the moderate-high frequency group moved to the low frequency group. The results showed no overall first night effect on severity of RMMA frequency in young and healthy patients with SB. In clinical practice, one-night sleep recording may be sufficient for moderate-high frequency SB patients. However, low RMMA frequency in the first night could be confirmed by a second night based on the patient's medical and dental history.

Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. exLaws.) is widely distributed in the western USA.We report the lack of stomatal closure at night in early summer for ponderosa pine at two of three sites investigated. Trees at a third site with lower nitrogen dioxide and nitric acid exposure, but greater drought stress, had slightly open stomata at night in...

Rotating shift work has been reported to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Vascular endothelial dysfunction and platelet activation are among the leading causes of thrombus formation in patients with myocardial infarction or stroke. Endothelial function has been shown to be impaired immediately after night-shift work; however, it is not known whether platelets are also activated. The aim of this study was to investigate the acute impact of night-shift work on platelet function. This observational study included 11 healthy medical staff members (seven women, median age 32 years). We examined each subject's platelet aggregation rates and the serum concentrations of eicosanoid mediators after night-shift work and on day-shift work without preceding night-shift work (baseline). Platelet aggregation did not differ from baseline levels after night-shift work. However, serum cyclooxygenase (COX)-metabolized eicosanoid mediators, particularly thromboxane (Tx) B 2 (a stable metabolite of TxA 2 and the most important marker of platelet activation), were significantly higher after the night-shift than at baseline (median 65.3 vs 180.4 ng/ml). Although platelet aggregation did not increase, there was an increase in serum COX-metabolized eicosanoid mediators such as TxB 2 in healthy medical staff after night-shift work. This platelet hypersensitivity may be one of the mechanisms underlying the significant association between night-shift work and adverse cardiovascular outcomes.

Girls Night In was held at Goddard on Nov 4-5, 2016. This is a pilot program which reinvigorates, Girls Night In was held at Goddard on Nov 4-5, inspires and engages high school girls who may be struggling or not fully engaged in STEM

Taking advantage of extra solar energy collected during the day, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit settled in for an evening of stargazing, photographing the two moons of Mars as they crossed the night sky. This time-lapse composite, acquired the evening of Spirit's martian sol 590 (Aug. 30, 2005) from a perch atop 'Husband Hill' in Gusev Crater, shows Phobos, the brighter moon, on the left, and Deimos, the dimmer moon, on the right. In this sequence of images obtained every 170 seconds, both moons move from top to bottom. The bright star Aldebaran forms a trail on the right, along with some other stars in the constellation Taurus. Most of the other streaks in the image mark the collision of cosmic rays with pixels in the camera.

Scientists will use images of the two moons to better map their orbital positions, learn more about their composition, and monitor the presence of nighttime clouds or haze. Spirit took the six images that make up this composite using Spirit's panoramic camera with the camera's broadband filter, which was designed specifically for acquiring images under low-light conditions.

Three sizeable impact craters, including one with a marked central peak, lie along the line that divides day and night on the Saturnian moon, Dione (dee-OH-nee), which is 1,118 kilometers, or 695 miles across. The low angle of the Sun along the terminator, as this dividing line is called, brings details like these craters into sharp relief. This view shows principally the leading hemisphere of Dione. Some of this moon's bright, wispy streaks can be seen curling around its eastern limb. Cassini imaged the wispy terrain at high resolution during its first Dione flyby on Dec. 14, 2004. This image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Nov. 1, 2004, at a distance of 2.4 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 106 degrees. North is up. The image scale is 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) per pixel. The image has been magnified by a factor of two and contrast-enhanced to aid visibility of surface features. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06542

This striking NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image captures the galaxy UGC 477, located just over 110 million light-years away in the constellation of Pisces (The Fish). UGC 477 is a low surface brightness (LSB) galaxy. First proposed in 1976 by Mike Disney, the existence of LSB galaxies was confirmed only in 1986 with the discovery of Malin 1. LSB galaxies like UGC 477 are more diffusely distributed than galaxies such as Andromeda and the Milky Way. With surface brightnesses up to 250 times fainter than the night sky, these galaxies can be incredibly difficult to detect. Most of the matter present in LSB galaxies is in the form of hydrogen gas, rather than stars. Unlike the bulges of normal spiral galaxies, the centres of LSB galaxies do not contain large numbers of stars. Astronomers suspect that this is because LSB galaxies are mainly found in regions devoid of other galaxies, and have therefore experienced fewer galactic interactions and mergers capable of triggering high rates of star formation. LSB galaxies such as UGC 477 instead appear to be dominated by dark matter, making them excellent objects to study to further our understanding of this elusive substance. However, due to an underrepresentation in galactic surveys — caused by their characteristic low brightness — their importance has only been realised relatively recently.

of the attacks. However, the symptoms express themselves within the form of the sleepwalking/night terror syndrome rather than as rapid eye movement sleep related nightmares. The main group of subjects with the syndrome and with no history of major psychological trauma show no clinical or DIS-Q evidence of dissociation during wakefulness. The proposition that, within the character structure of this group, the mechanism still operates but exclusively within sleep remains a possibility. Keywords: sleepwalking; night terrors; dissociation; post-traumatic stress disorder PMID:11264487

: Night wakings are common in infancy. Although a link between infant night wakings and attachment to the primary caregiver has been previously proposed, empirical support is limited so far. The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine the early history of night waking in infants who were later classified as securely or insecurely (avoidantly, resistantly, or disorganized) attached. : Participants in the study were 193 infants and their mothers. Information on infant night wakings was collected with the use of daily sleep diaries for the first 6 months of life and again for 2 weeks at 12 months of age. Infant-mother attachment was assessed using the Strange Situation (Ainsworth et al, Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation. New York: Hillsdale; 1978) when the infants were 12 months of age. : Longitudinal regression analyses showed that, after controlling for many covariates, infants with an insecure-resistant attachment at 12 months of age awoke more during the night in their first 6 months of life than the other infants. Furthermore, infants with different attachment classifications developed different patterns of night wakings over the first 6 months, with the insecure-avoidant infants waking the least toward the end of the 6 months. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed no associations between attachment and night wakings at 12 months of age. : This study is the first in showing that attachment at 12 months of age is related to infant night waking patterns in the first 6 months of life. Patterns of infant night wakings early in life apparently reflect the emerging attachment relationship.

Night nurses carry overall nursing responsibility for approximately half the time that patients spend in hospital. However, there is a paucity of literature that focuses on nursing care provided at night. The aim of this study was to evaluate nursing care provided at night from the perspective of both nurses and patients. The study, which had an evaluative and a comparative design, was carried out using the Night Nursing Care Instrument at a hospital in southern Sweden. Nurses (n = 178) on night duty were consecutively selected, while the patients (n = 356) were selected by convenience sampling. The results showed a statistically significant difference between nurses' assessments and patients' perceptions of the nursing care provided at night in nursing interventions (P < 0.0001). In the areas of medical interventions and evaluation, no statistically significant differences were found between nurses and patients. For eight of 11 items, patients reported that they were satisfied (> or =80%) with the nursing care provided at night. These findings suggest that night nurses need to improve their ability to assess patients' needs for nursing care at night. A first step in this direction is for them to become aware of how patients perceive night nursing. As a second step, nurses need to increase their knowledge of which nursing actions promote patients' rest at night.

It has been hypothesized that the underlying mechanism of elevated breast cancer risk among long-term, night-working women involves circadian genes expression alteration caused by exposure to light at night and/or irregular work hours. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of rotating night shift work on expression of selected core circadian genes. The cross-sectional study was conducted on 184 matched nurses and midwives, who currently work either day or rotating night shifts, to determine the effect of irregular work at night on circadian gene expression in peripheral blood leukocytes. Transcript levels of BMAL1, CLOCK, CRY1, CRY2, PER1, PER2, and PER3 were determined by means of quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). After adjusting for hour of blood collection, there were no statistically significant changes of investigated circadian genes among nurses and midwives currently working rotating night shifts compared to nurses working day shifts. The highest expression of PER1 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) was observed for women currently working shifts who had worked >15 years in rotating night shift work. PER1 gene expression was associated with the lifetime duration of rotating night shift work among women currently working night shifts (P=0.04). PER1 and PER3 transcript levels in blood leukocytes were significantly down-regulated in the later versus early hours of the morning between 06.00-10.00 hours (β-coefficient -0.226, P=0.001 and β-coefficient -0.181, P<0.0001, respectively). These results suggest that current rotating night shift work does not affect circadian gene expression in human circulating leukocytes. In analysis of the peripheral clock in human studies, the hour of blood collection should be precisely specified.

If students are not encouraged to succeed in science, mathematics, and technology classes at school, efforts to improve the quality of content and teaching in these subjects may be futile. Parents and families are in a unique position to encourage children to enroll and achieve in these classes. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Family Science Night program invites middle school students and their families to explore the importance of science and technology in our daily lives by providing a venue for families to comfortably engage in learning activities that change their perception and understanding of science - making it more practical and approachable for participants of all ages. Family Science Night strives to change the way that students and their families participate in science, within the program and beyond.

Objectives We tested whether a sleep and circadian-based treatment shown to improve circadian adaptation to night shifts and attenuate negative effects on alertness, performance, and sleep in young adults would also be effective in older adults. Methods We assessed subjective alertness, sustained attention (psychomotor vigilance task, PVT), sleep duration (actigraphy), and circadian timing (salivary dim-light melatonin onset, DLMO) in eighteen older adults (57.2±3.8 y; mean±SD) in a simulated shift work protocol. Four day shifts were followed by three night shifts in the laboratory. Participants slept at home and were randomized to either the Treatment Group (scheduled evening sleep and enhanced lighting during the latter half of night shifts), or Control Group (ad lib sleep and typical lighting during night shifts). Results Compared to day shifts, alertness and sustained attention declined on the first night shift in both groups, and was worse in the latter half of the night shifts. Alertness and attention improved on nights 2 and 3 for the Treatment Group but remained lower for the Control Group. Sleep duration in the Treatment Group remained similar to baseline (6–7 h) following night shifts, but was shorter (3–5 h) following night shifts in the Control Group. Treatment Group circadian timing advanced by 169.3±16.1 min (mean±SEM) but did not shift (−9.7±9.9 min) in the Control Group. Conclusions The combined treatment of scheduled evening sleep and enhanced lighting increased sleep duration and partially aligned circadian phase with sleep and work timing, resulting in improved night shift alertness and performance. PMID:27566781

We tested whether a sleep and circadian-based treatment shown to improve circadian adaptation to night shifts and attenuate negative effects on alertness, performance and sleep in young adults would also be effective in older adults. We assessed subjective alertness, sustained attention (psychomotor vigilance task, PVT), sleep duration (actigraphy) and circadian timing (salivary dim-light melatonin onset, DLMO) in 18 older adults (57.2±3.8 years; mean±SD) in a simulated shift work protocol. 4 day shifts were followed by 3 night shifts in the laboratory. Participants slept at home and were randomised to either the treatment group (scheduled evening sleep and enhanced lighting during the latter half of night shifts) or control group (ad-lib sleep and typical lighting during night shifts). Compared with day shifts, alertness and sustained attention declined on the first night shift in both groups, and was worse in the latter half of the night shifts. Alertness and attention improved on nights 2 and 3 for the treatment group but remained lower for the control group. Sleep duration in the treatment group remained similar to baseline (6-7 hours) following night shifts, but was shorter (3-5 hours) following night shifts in the control group. Treatment group circadian timing advanced by 169.3±16.1 min (mean±SEM) but did not shift (-9.7±9.9 min) in the control group. The combined treatment of scheduled evening sleep and enhanced lighting increased sleep duration and partially aligned circadian phase with sleep and work timing, resulting in improved night shift alertness and performance. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Purpose AV-45 amyloid biomarker is known to show uptake in white matter in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) but also in healthy population. This binding; thought to be of a non-specific lipophilic nature has not yet been investigated. The aim of this study was to determine the differential pattern of AV-45 binding in healthy and pathological populations in white matter. Methods We recruited 24 patients presenting with AD at early stage and 17 matched, healthy subjects. We used an optimized PET-MRI registration method and an approach based on intensity histogram using several indexes. We compared the results of the intensity histogram analyses with a more canonical approach based on target-to-cerebellum Standard Uptake Value (SUVr) in white and grey matters using MANOVA and discriminant analyses. A cluster analysis on white and grey matter histograms was also performed. Results White matter histogram analysis revealed significant differences between AD and healthy subjects, which were not revealed by SUVr analysis. However, white matter histograms was not decisive to discriminate groups, and indexes based on grey matter only showed better discriminative power than SUVr. The cluster analysis divided our sample in two clusters, showing different uptakes in grey but also in white matter. Conclusion These results demonstrate that AV-45 binding in white matter conveys subtle information not detectable using SUVr approach. Although it is not better than standard SUVr to discriminate AD patients from healthy subjects, this information could reveal white matter modifications. PMID:24573658

Background Overnight operations pose a challenge because our circadian biology promotes sleepiness and dissipates wakefulness at night. Since the circadian effect on cognitive functions magnifies with increasing sleep pressure, cognitive deficits associated with night work are likely to be most acute with extended wakefulness, such as during the transition from a day shift to night shift. Methodology/Principal Findings To test this hypothesis we measured selective attention (with visual search), vigilance (with Psychomotor Vigilance Task [PVT]) and alertness (with a visual analog scale) in a shift work simulation protocol, which included four day shifts followed by three night shifts. There was a nocturnal decline in cognitive processes, some of which were most pronounced on the first night shift. The nighttime decrease in visual search sensitivity was most pronounced on the first night compared with subsequent nights (p = .04), and this was accompanied by a trend towards selective attention becoming ‘fast and sloppy’. The nighttime increase in attentional lapses on the PVT was significantly greater on the first night compared to subsequent nights (psubjective alertness was also greatest on the first night compared with subsequent nights (pnight work compared to day work. Examination of the nighttime vulnerabilities underlying the deployment of attention can be informative for the design of optimal work schedules and the implementation of effective countermeasures for performance deficits during night work. PMID:18043740

This striking image of the coastline of southwestern Saudi Arabia was taken by astronauts on the International Space Station. Patchy cloud cover partially obscures and blurs the city lights, especially in the vicinity of Khamis Mushait and Abha. While much of the country is lightly populated desert—and relatively dark at night due to lack of city and roadway lights—the southwestern coastal region has a more moderate climate and several large cities. Three brightly lit urban centers are visible at image top left: Jeddah, Mecca, and Taif. Jeddah is the gateway city for Islamic pilgrims going to nearby Mecca, a religious journey known as the Hajj. Taif is located on the slopes of the Sarawat Mountains and provides a summer retreat for the Saudi government from the desert heat of the capital, Riyadh. Bright yellow-orange lighting marks highways that parallel the trend of the Asir Mountains (image center), connecting Mecca to the resort cities of Al Bahah and Abha. Smaller roadways, lit with blue lights, extend to the west to small cities along the Red Sea coastline. The bright yellow-orange glow of the city of Abha is matched by that of Khamis Mushait (or Khamis Mushayt) to the northeast. The brightly lit ribbon of highway continues towards other large cities to the south (Jazan, not shown) and southeast (Najran, not shown). Astronaut photograph ISS036-E-25802 was acquired on July 26, 2013, with a Nikon D3S digital camera using a 50 millimeter lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 36 crew. It has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast, and lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet

Yuri’s Night - also known as the “World Space Party” - is the annual celebration commemorating Gagarin’s historic flight on April 12, 1961, and the maiden voyage of the American space shuttle on April 12, 1981. It was created by young space enthusiasts in 2000 at the annual Space Generation Congress and was first celebrated in 2001, registering more than 60 events around the world from the start. Since then the interest in celebrating human spaceflight grew constantly to over 350 events across all seven continents in 2013. The honoring of Yuri Gagarin’s first spaceflight in Stuttgart started in 2007 and resulted in one of the largest events outside the US, with five parties following in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. The Stuttgart event was originally organized as space party for an audience at the age of 20 and beyond including informative aspects at the afternoon and a following party far into the night. Since 2010 the focus of the Yuri’s Night Stuttgart is to bring awareness of space exploration to people of all ages, including particularly many participatory hands-on space activities for kids and families that attract hundreds of visitors every year. As much as Yuri’s Night is a worldwide party, the events in Stuttgart successfully concentrate on educational aspects that help to inspire new generations of space enthusiasts who will ultimately shape the future of space exploration. It is therefore not only a look back to one of the greatest achievements of the 20th Century, but it is also a look into the future: from multinational cooperation on the International Space Station to benefit of space flight to the introduction of the next generation of space technology. This paper will introduce the celebrations of Yuri’s Night in Stuttgart of the past four years and compare them to the early events. It provides a summary of the development of the Yuri’s Night including educational aspects, public relations and media attraction and gives

... drinks before bed. Having a "nightcap" or alcoholic beverage before sleep may help you relax, but heavy ... alcohol have worn off. Avoid large meals and beverages late at night. A light snack is okay, ...

The purpose of this study was to examine traffic control for night work zones from the perspective of both transportation agencies and motorists. This was accomplished by investigating practices of state departments of transportation (DOTs), identify...

Modern societies are characterized by a 24/7 lifestyle (LS) with no environmental differences between day and night, resulting in weak zeitgebers (weak day light, absence of darkness during night, constant environmental temperature, sedentary LS and frequent snacking), and as a consequence, in an impaired circadian system (CS) through a process known as chronodisruption. Both weak zeitgebers and CS impairment are related to human pathologies (certain cancers, metabolic syndrome and affective and cognitive disorders), but little is known about how to chronoenhance the CS. The aim of this work is to propose practical strategies for chronoenhancement, based on accentuating the day/night contrast. For this, 131 young subjects were recruited, and their wrist temperature (WT), activity, body position, light exposure, environmental temperature and sleep were recorded under free-living conditions for 1 week. Subjects with high contrast (HC) and low contrast (LC) for each variable were selected to analyze the HC effect in activity, body position, environmental temperature, light exposure and sleep would have on WT. We found that HC showed better rhythms than LC for every variable except sleep. Subjects with HC and LC for WT also demonstrated differences in LS, where HC subjects had a slightly advanced night phase onset and a general increase in day/night contrast. In addition, theoretical high day/night contrast calculated using mathematical models suggests an improvement by means of LS contrast. Finally, some individuals classified as belonging to the HC group in terms of WT when they are exposed to the LS characteristic of the LC group, while others exhibit WT arrhythmicity despite their good LS habits, revealing two different WT components: an exogenous component modified by LS and another endogenous component that is refractory to it. Therefore, intensifying day/night contrast in subject's LS has proven to be a feasible measure to chronoenhance the CS.

Misalignment of the endogenous circadian timing system leads to disruption of physiological rhythms and may contribute to the development of the deleterious health effects associated with night shift work. However, the molecular underpinnings remain to be elucidated. Here, we investigated the effect of a 4-day simulated night shift work protocol on the circadian regulation of the human transcriptome. Repeated blood samples were collected over two 24-hour measurement periods from eight healthy subjects under highly controlled laboratory conditions before and 4 days after a 10-hour delay of their habitual sleep period. RNA was extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells to obtain transcriptomic data. Cosinor analysis revealed a marked reduction of significantly rhythmic transcripts in the night shift condition compared with baseline at group and individual levels. Subsequent analysis using a mixed-effects model selection approach indicated that this decrease is mainly due to dampened rhythms rather than to a complete loss of rhythmicity: 73% of transcripts rhythmically expressed at baseline remained rhythmic during the night shift condition with a similar phase relative to habitual bedtimes, but with lower amplitudes. Functional analysis revealed that key biological processes are affected by the night shift protocol, most notably the natural killer cell-mediated immune response and Jun/AP1 and STAT pathways. These results show that 4 days of simulated night shifts leads to a loss in temporal coordination between the human circadian transcriptome and the external environment and impacts biological processes related to the adverse health effects associated to night shift work.

The aim of this study was to assess the association between night shift work and the prevalence of diseases and conditions among nurses and midwives. The study included 725 subjects (354 working on night shifts and 371 working only during the day). The data were collected via an interview based on the "Standard Shiftwork Index". We analyzed the frequency of diseases and conditions and the relative risk expressed as the odds ratio (adjusted for important confounding factors). The most common diseases in the study population were chronic back pain (47.2%), hypertension (24.5%) and thyroid diseases (21.2%). We found no statistically significant increased relative risk of any diseases and conditions among the night shift nurses, compared to the day shift ones. The duration of the work performed on night shifts was significantly associated with the relative risk of thyroid diseases--increased almost two times in the women working for 15 or more years in such system (p for trend: 0.031). The analysis showed the significantly increased (more than eight times higher) relative risk of feet swelling in the women with 8 or more night duties per month, compared to the women having fewer night shifts. We did not observe a higher frequency of diseases in the night shift nurses, compared to the day shift nurses. These results may be related to the so-called "Healthy Worker Effect". There is a need for further long-term observational studies in the populations of nurses.

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating disease that affects an estimated 27 million Americans. Changes in lower-extremity alignment and joint laxity have been found to redistribute the medial and/or lateral loads at the joint. However, the effect that changes in anteroposterior knee-joint laxity have on lower-extremity alignment and function in individuals with knee OA remains unclear. To examine anteroposterior knee-joint laxity, lower-extremity alignment, and subjective pain, stiffness, and function scores in individuals with early-stage knee OA and matched controls and to determine if a relationship exists among these measures. Case control. Sports-medicine research laboratory. 18 participants with knee OA and 18 healthy matched controls. Participants completed the Western Ontario McMaster (WOMAC) osteoarthritis questionnaire and were tested for total anteroposterior knee-joint laxity (A-P) and knee-joint alignment (ALIGN). WOMAC scores, A-P (mm), and ALIGN (°). A significant multivariate main effect for group (Wilks' Λ = 0.30, F7,26 = 8.58, P < .0001) was found. Knee-OA participants differed in WOMAC scores (P < .0001) but did not differ from healthy controls on ALIGN (P = .49) or total A-P (P = .66). No significant relationships were identified among main outcome measures. These data demonstrate that participants with early-stage knee OA had worse pain, stiffness, and functional outcome scores than the matched controls; however, ALIGN and A-P were no different. There was no association identified among participants' subjective scores, ALIGN, or A-P measures in this study.

Night work has been associated with adverse effects in terms of reproductive health. Specifically, menstruation has been suggested to be negatively impacted by night work, which again may influence fertility. This study investigated whether working nights is related to menstrual characteristics and if there is a relationship between shift work disorder (SWD) and menstruation. The study was cross-sectional, response rate 38%. The sample comprised female nurses who were members of the Norwegian Nurses Association; below 50 yr of age, who were not pregnant, did not use hormonal pills or intrauterine devices and who had not reached menopause (n=766). The nurses answered a postal survey including questions about night work and menstrual characteristics. Fifteen per cent reported to have irregular menstruations. Thirty-nine per cent of the nurses were classified as having SWD. Logistic regression analyses concerning the relationship between irregular menstruations and night work did not show any associations. Furthermore, no associations were found between cycle length or bleeding period and night work parameters. No associations were found between menstrual characteristics and SWD.

Night work has been associated with adverse effects in terms of reproductive health. Specifically, menstruation has been suggested to be negatively impacted by night work, which again may influence fertility. This study investigated whether working nights is related to menstrual characteristics and if there is a relationship between shift work disorder (SWD) and menstruation. The study was cross-sectional, response rate 38%. The sample comprised female nurses who were members of the Norwegian Nurses Association; below 50 yr of age, who were not pregnant, did not use hormonal pills or intrauterine devices and who had not reached menopause (n=766). The nurses answered a postal survey including questions about night work and menstrual characteristics. Fifteen per cent reported to have irregular menstruations. Thirty-nine per cent of the nurses were classified as having SWD. Logistic regression analyses concerning the relationship between irregular menstruations and night work did not show any associations. Furthermore, no associations were found between cycle length or bleeding period and night work parameters. No associations were found between menstrual characteristics and SWD. PMID:25914071

Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 21 is an endocrine factor with an emerging role as a metabolic regulator. We previously reported the presence of a significant day/night variation of FGF-21 in energy-replete, healthy female subjects. However the day/night patterns of secretion in male subjects remain to be fully elucidated. To elucidate day/night pattern of FGF-21 levels in male subjects in the energy-replete state, its relationship to FFA and to investigate whether a sexual dimorphism exists in FGF-21 physiology. Eight healthy lean male subjects were studied for up to 5 days while on an isocaloric diet. Blood samples were obtained for measurement of FGF-21 and free fatty acids (FFA) hourly from 0800 AM on day 4 till 0800AM on day 5. FGF-21 did not exhibit any statistically significant day/night variation pattern of circulating FGF-21 levels during the isocaloric fed state in male subjects. FGF-21 levels in male subjects are closely cross-correlated with FFA levels, similar to female subjects. A sexual dimorphism exists in FGF-21 physiology; that as opposed to female subjects, no significant day/night variation exists in FGF-21 rhythm in male subjects in the energy-replete state. Circulating pattern of FGF-21, similar to the female subjects, was highly cross-correlated to the FFA levels in the male subjects, signifying that the sexual dimorphism in FGF-21 physiology may be related to the differing lipid metabolism in both the genders.

This study aimed to evaluate the associations between types of night shift work and different indices of obesity using the baseline information from a prospective cohort study of night shift workers in China. A total of 3,871 workers from five companies were recruited from the baseline survey. A structured self-administered questionnaire was employed to collect the participants' demographic information, lifetime working history, and lifestyle habits. Participants were grouped into rotating, permanent and irregular night shift work groups. Anthropometric parameters were assessed by healthcare professionals. Multiple logistic regression models were used to evaluate the associations between night shift work and different indices of obesity. Night shift workers had increased risk of overweight and obesity, and odds ratios (ORs) were 1.17 (95% CI, 0.97-1.41) and 1.27 (95% CI, 0.74-2.18), respectively. Abdominal obesity had a significant but marginal association with night shift work (OR = 1.20, 95% CI, 1.01-1.43). A positive gradient between the number of years of night shift work and overweight or abdominal obesity was observed. Permanent night shift work showed the highest odds of being overweight (OR = 3.94, 95% CI, 1.40-11.03) and having increased abdominal obesity (OR = 3.34, 95% CI, 1.19-9.37). Irregular night shift work was also significantly associated with overweight (OR = 1.56, 95% CI, 1.13-2.14), but its association with abdominal obesity was borderline (OR = 1.26, 95% CI, 0.94-1.69). By contrast, the association between rotating night shift work and these parameters was not significant. Permanent and irregular night shift work were more likely to be associated with overweight or abdominal obesity than rotating night shift work. These associations need to be verified in prospective cohort studies.

Aims This study aimed to evaluate the associations between types of night shift work and different indices of obesity using the baseline information from a prospective cohort study of night shift workers in China. Methods A total of 3,871 workers from five companies were recruited from the baseline survey. A structured self-administered questionnaire was employed to collect the participants’ demographic information, lifetime working history, and lifestyle habits. Participants were grouped into rotating, permanent and irregular night shift work groups. Anthropometric parameters were assessed by healthcare professionals. Multiple logistic regression models were used to evaluate the associations between night shift work and different indices of obesity. Results Night shift workers had increased risk of overweight and obesity, and odds ratios (ORs) were 1.17 (95% CI, 0.97–1.41) and 1.27 (95% CI, 0.74–2.18), respectively. Abdominal obesity had a significant but marginal association with night shift work (OR = 1.20, 95% CI, 1.01–1.43). A positive gradient between the number of years of night shift work and overweight or abdominal obesity was observed. Permanent night shift work showed the highest odds of being overweight (OR = 3.94, 95% CI, 1.40–11.03) and having increased abdominal obesity (OR = 3.34, 95% CI, 1.19–9.37). Irregular night shift work was also significantly associated with overweight (OR = 1.56, 95% CI, 1.13–2.14), but its association with abdominal obesity was borderline (OR = 1.26, 95% CI, 0.94–1.69). By contrast, the association between rotating night shift work and these parameters was not significant. Conclusion Permanent and irregular night shift work were more likely to be associated with overweight or abdominal obesity than rotating night shift work. These associations need to be verified in prospective cohort studies. PMID:29763461

A majority of night shift workers have their circadian rhythms misaligned to their atypical schedule. While bright light exposure at night is known to reset the human central circadian clock, the behavior of peripheral clocks under conditions of shift work is more elusive. The aim of the present study was to quantify the resetting effects of bright light exposure on both central (plasma cortisol and melatonin) and peripheral clocks markers (clock gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, PBMCs) in subjects living at night. Eighteen healthy subjects were enrolled to either a control (dim light) or a bright light group. Blood was sampled at baseline and on the 4 th day of simulated night shift. In response to a night-oriented schedule, the phase of PER1 and BMAL1 rhythms in PBMCs was delayed by ~2.5-3 h (P night-oriented schedule and a rapid resetting effect of nocturnal bright light exposure on peripheral clocks.

Brain injuries substantially change the entire landscape of oscillatory dynamics and render detection of typical sleep patterns difficult. Yet, sleep is characterized not only by specific EEG waveforms, but also by its circadian organization. In the present study we investigated whether brain dynamics of patients with disorders of consciousness systematically change between day and night. We recorded ~24 h EEG at the bedside of 18 patients diagnosed to be vigilant but unaware (Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome) and 17 patients revealing signs of fluctuating consciousness (Minimally Conscious State). The day-to-night changes in (i) spectral power, (ii) sleep-specific oscillatory patterns and (iii) signal complexity were analyzed and compared to 26 healthy control subjects. Surprisingly, the prevalence of sleep spindles and slow waves did not systematically vary between day and night in patients, whereas day-night changes in EEG power spectra and signal complexity were revealed in minimally conscious but not unaware patients.

We examined effects of daily rumination and suppression in response to stressors on objective and subjective sleep among mothers. Participants were 183 mothers, including chronically stressed mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder (M-ASD; n = 92) and age-matched mothers of neurotypical children (M-NT; n = 91). In an intensive longitudinal design, participants provided reports of daily rumination and suppression, nightly objective actigraphy-defined sleep and nightlysubjective sleep quality for seven consecutive days at baseline, 9 months and 18 months. Total sleep time, sleep fragmentation, sleep onset latency, and subjective sleep quality. Among M-NT with above average depressive symptoms, higher daily rumination was associated with shorter total sleep time. Rumination was associated with more sleep fragmentation among M-NT at the trend level. Rumination was not associated with sleep onset latency among M-NT, or with any sleep outcomes among M-ASD. Suppression was not associated with any sleep outcomes. We provide novel evidence of the effect of rumination on objectively measured sleep duration among M-NT. Coping was not related to sleep among M-ASD. Given the prevalence of poor sleep among mothers, future work should examine modifiable factors perpetuating sleep disturbance.

With practical applicability in mind, we wanted to observe whether nocturnal alertness, performance, and daytime sleep could be improved by light exposure of tolerable intensity and duration in a real work place. We also evaluated whether attenuating morning light was important in adaptation of real night shift workers. Twelve night shift nurses participated in this study. The study consisted of three different treatment procedures: Room Light (RL), Bright Light (BL), and Bright Light with Sunglasses (BL/S). In RL, room light exposure was given during the night shift and followed by 1 hr exposure to sunlight or 10,000 lux light the next morning (from 08:30 to 09:30). In BL, a 4-hour nocturnal light exposure of 4,000-6,000 lux (from 01:00 to 05:00) was applied and followed by the same morning light exposure as in RL. In BL/S, the same nocturnal light exposure as in BL was done with light attenuation in the morning. Each treatment procedure was continued for 4 days in a repeated measures, cross-over design. Nocturnal alertness was measured by a visual analog scale. Computerized performance tests were done. Daytime sleep was recorded with actigraphy. The most significant overall improvement of sleep was noted in BL/S. BL showed less improvement than BL/S but more than RL. Comparison of nocturnal alertness among the 3 treatments produced similar results: during BL/S, the subjects were most alert, followed by BL and then by RL. Real night shift workers can improve nocturnal alertness and daytime sleep by bright light exposure in their work place. These improvements can be maximized by attenuating morning light on the way home.

Hexose export from chloroplasts at night has been inferred in previous studies of mutant and transgenic plants. The authors have tested whether hexose export is the normal route of carbon export from chloroplasts at night. The authors used nuclear magnetic resonance to distinguish glucose (Glc) made from hexose export and Glc made from triose export. Glc synthesized in vitro from fructose-6-phosphate in the presence of deuterium-labeled water had deuterium incorporated at C-2, whereas synthesis from triose phosphates caused C-2 through C-5 to become deuterated. In both tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) and bean (phaseolus vulgaris L.), Glc from sucrose made atmore » night in the presence of deuterium-enriched water was deuterated only in the C-2 position, indicating that >75% of carbon is exported as hexoses at night. In darkness the phosphate in the cytosol was 28 mM, whereas that in the chloroplasts was 5 mW, but hexose phosphates were 10-fold higher in the cytosol than in the chloroplasts. Therefore, hexose phosphates would not move out of chloroplasts without the input of energy. The authors conclude that most carbon leaves chloroplasts at night as Glc, maltose, or higher maltodextrins under normal conditions.« less

Aim of our study was to evaluate the influence that shift work and night work could have on mental health. A review of literary articles from 1990 to 2011 on shift work and night work was carried out. The results of this review confirmed that the shift work and night work affect mental health with the onset of neuropsychological disorders such as mood disorders, anxiety, nervousness, depressive anxiety syndromes, chronic fatigue and chronic insomnia irritability, sleep disturbances, reduction in levels of attention, cognitive impairments, alteration of circadian rhythm. Night work and shift work cause severe desynchronization of the cronobiological rhythms and a disruption of social life with negative effects on performance at work, on health and on social relationships. In the light of these results and recognizing shift work and night work as risk factors for the health of workers is necessary to implement preventive and periodic health checks by the occupational doctor to ensure the health and safety of workers taking account of the different environmental and individual factors.

College students (N = 112) completed the Noctcaelador Inventory, a measure of psychological attachment to the night-sky, and estimated various night-sky watching related activities: frequency and duration of night-sky watching, astro-tourism, ownership of night-sky viewing equipment, and attendance of observatories or planetariums. The results…

Magnetic compass orientation in a night-migratory songbird requires that Cluster N, a cluster of forebrain regions, is functional. Cluster N, which receives input from the eyes via the thalamofugal pathway, shows high neuronal activity in night-migrants performing magnetic compass-guided behaviour at night, whereas no activation is observed during the day, and covering up the birds' eyes strongly reduces neuronal activation. These findings suggest that Cluster N processes light-dependent magnetic compass information in night-migrating songbirds. The aim of this study was to test if Cluster N is active during daytime migration. We used behavioural molecular mapping based on ZENK activation to investigate if Cluster N is active in the meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis), a day- and night-migratory species. We found that Cluster N of meadow pipits shows high neuronal activity under dim-light at night, but not under full room-light conditions during the day. These data suggest that, in day- and night-migratory meadow pipits, the light-dependent magnetic compass, which requires an active Cluster N, may only be used during night-time, whereas another magnetosensory mechanism and/or other reference system(s), like the sun or polarized light, may be used as primary orientation cues during the day.

Study Objectives: Sleep bruxism (SB) is reported to vary in frequency over time. The aim of this study was to assess the first night effect on SB. Methods: A retrospective polysomnographic (PSG) analysis was performed of data from a sample of SB patients (12 females, 4 males; age range: 17-39 years) recorded in a sleep laboratory over 2 consecutive nights. Sleep parameters and jaw muscle activity variables (i.e., rhythmic masticatory muscle activity [RMMA]) for SB were quantified and compared between the 2 nights. Subjects were classified into groups according to severity of RMMA frequency, such as low frequency (2-4 episodes/h and/or < 25 bursts/h) and moderate-high frequency (≥ 4 episodes/h and ≥ 25 bursts/h). Results: Overall, no first night effects were found for most sleep variables. However, total sleep time, sleep efficiency, and stage transitions showed significant time and group interactions (repeated measures ANOVAs, p ≤ 0.05). The RMMA episode index did not differ between the 2 nights, whereas the second night showed significantly higher burst index, bruxism time index, and mean burst duration (repeated measure ANOVAs, p ≤ 0.05). Five patients of 8 in the low frequency group were classified into the moderate-high frequency group on the second night, whereas only one patient in the moderate-high frequency group moved to the low frequency group. Conclusions: The results showed no overall first night effect on severity of RMMA frequency in young and healthy patients with SB. In clinical practice, one-night sleep recording may be sufficient for moderate-high frequency SB patients. However, low RMMA frequency in the first night could be confirmed by a second night based on the patient's medical and dental history. Citation: Hasegawa Y; Lavigne G; Rompré P; Kato T; Urade M; Huynh N. Is there a first night effect on sleep bruxism? A sleep laboratory study. J Clin Sleep Med 2013;9(11):1139-1145. PMID:24235894

Circadian misalignment between the endogenous circadian signal and the imposed rest-activity cycle is one of the main sources of sleep and health troubles in night shift workers. Timed bright light exposure during night work can reduce circadian misalignment in night workers, but this approach is limited by difficulties in incorporating bright light treatment into most workplaces. Controlled light and dark exposure during the daytime also has a significant impact on circadian phase and could be easier to implement in real-life situations. The authors previously described distinctive light exposure patterns in night nurses with and without circadian adaptation. In the present study, the main features of these patterns were used to design daytime light exposure profiles. Profiles were then tested in a laboratory simulation of night work to evaluate their efficacy in reducing circadian misalignment in night workers. The simulation included 2 day shifts followed by 4 consecutive night shifts (2400-0800 h). Healthy subjects (15 men and 23 women; 20-35 years old) were divided into 3 groups to test 3 daytime light exposure profiles designed to produce respectively a phase delay (delay group, n=12), a phase advance (advance group, n=13), or an unchanged circadian phase (stable group, n=13). In all 3 groups, light intensity was set at 50 lux during the nights of simulated night work. Salivary dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) showed a significant phase advance of 2.3 h (+/-1.3 h) in the advance group and a significant phase delay of 4.1 h (+/-1.3 h) in the delay group. The stable group showed a smaller but significant phase delay of 1.7 h (+/-1.6 h). Urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6s) acrophases were highly correlated to salivary DLMOs. Urinary aMT6s acrophases were used to track daily phase shifts. They showed that phase shifts occurred rapidly and differed between the 3 groups by the 3rd night of simulated night work. These results show that significant phase shifts can

Late-night salivary cortisol is a frequently used and easily implemented diagnostically valuable test for the diagnosis of overt Cushing's syndrome. The use of late-night salivary cortisol in the diagnosis of subclinical Cushing's syndrome is somewhat controversial. In this study, we aimed to determine the diagnostic value of late-night salivary cortisol in diagnosing subclinical Cushing's syndrome and compare it with 24-hour urinary free cortisol levels (UFC). The study consisted of 33 cases of subclinical Cushing's syndrome, 59 cases of non-functioning adrenal adenoma, and 41 control subjects. Late-night salivary cortisol and UFC were measured in all the cases. The diagnosis of subclinical Cushing's syndrome was based on combined results of 1 mg dexamethasone suppression test > 1.8 μg/dL and ACTH < 10 pg/mL. Mean late-night salivary cortisol levels in subjects with subclinical Cushing's syndrome were significantly higher than in subjects with non-functioning adrenal adenoma and the control group (p < 0.001). Using a cut-off value of 0.18 μg/dL, the sensitivity and specificity of late-night salivary cortisol for diagnosing subclinical Cushing's syndrome were determined as 82% and 60%, respectively. Using a cut-off value of 137 μg/day, the sensitivity and specificity of UFC was determined as 18% and 90%, respectively. Because the sensitivity of late-night salivary cortisol for the diagnosis of subclinical Cushing's syndrome is limited, using it as the sole screening test for subclinical Cushing's syndrome may lead to false negative results. However, using it as an adjunct test to other tests may be beneficial in the diagnosis of subclinical Cushing's syndrome. (Endokrynol Pol 2016; 67 (5): 487-492).

Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) designates a self-reported cognitive decline despite preserved cognitive abilities. This study aims to explore, in older adults with SCD, the association between intensity of self-reported cognitive complaint and psychological factors including Young's early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) (i.e. enduring cognitive structures giving rise to beliefs about oneself and the world), as well as depression and anxiety. Seventy-six subjects (69.22 years ± 6.1) with intact cognitive functioning were recruited through an advertisement offering free participation in an intervention on SCD. After undergoing a neuropsychological examination (including global cognition (MMSE) and episodic memory (FCSRT)) and a semi-structured interview to assess depressive symptoms (MADRS), they completed a set of online self-reported questionnaires on SCD (McNair questionnaire), Young's EMSs (YSQ-short form), depression (HADS-D), and anxiety (HADS-A and trait-STAI-Y). The McNair score did not correlate with the neuropsychological scores. Instead, it was highly (r > 0.400; p < 0.005) correlated with trait anxiety and three EMSs belonging to the "Impaired autonomy and performance" domain: Dependence/incompetence, Failure to achieve and Vulnerability to harm or illness. Our final regression model comprising depression, anxiety, and these three EMSs as predictors (while controlling for age, gender, and objective cognition) accounted for 38.5% of the observed variance in SCD intensity. The level of cognitive complaint is significantly associated with Young's EMSs in the category of "Impaired autonomy and performance". We assume that SCD may primarily be driven by profound long-term inner beliefs about oneself that do not specifically refer to self-perceived memory abilities.

Planned Parenthood of Houston and southeast Texas is currently implementing a reproductive health care clinic with night-time hours. The clinic provides for the reproductive health care needs of college students with after-class jobs, women with two jobs or with night-shift employment, and all other women who do not have time to go to a daytime clinic. The clinic operates twice a month on Fridays and was initially open 10:30 p.m. - 7 a.m., but now it has changed its hours to 7:30 p.m. - 3:30 a.m. The clinic is staffed by one clinician and two clinic assistants, which attend to an average of 17-22 patients per night's schedule. Women who use the clinic keep their appointments better and do not have to wait so long for care.

Providing power over the 354 hour lunar night provides a considerable challenge to solar power concepts for a moonbase. Concepts are reviewed for providing night power for a solar powered moonbase. The categories of solutions considered are electrical storage, physical storage, transmitted power, and innovative concepts. Electrical storage is the most well-developed option. Less developed electrical storage options are capacitors and superconducting inductors. Physical storage options include storage of potential energy and storage of energy in flywheels. Thermal storage has potentially high energy/weight, but problems of conduction and radiation losses during the night need to be addressed. Transmitted power considers use of microwave or laser beams to transmit power either from orbit or directly from the Earth. Finally, innovative concepts proposed include reflecting light from orbital mirrors, locating the moonbase at a lunar pole, converting reflected Earthlight, or moving the moonbase to follow the sun.

In Taiwan, there are more than 300 night markets and they have attracted more and more visitors in recent years. Air quality in night markets has become a public concern. To characterize the current air quality in night markets, four major night markets in Kaohsiung were selected for this study. The results of this study showed that the mean carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations at fixed and moving sites in night markets ranged from 326 to 427 parts per million (ppm) during non-open hours and from 433 to 916 ppm during open hours. The average carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations at fixed and moving sites in night markets ranged from 0.2 to 2.8 ppm during non-open hours and from 2.1 to 14.1 ppm during open hours. The average 1-hr levels of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters less than 10 microm (PM10) and less than 2.5 microm (PM2.5) at fixed and moving sites in night markets were high, ranging from 186 to 451 microg/m3 and from 175 to 418 microg/m3, respectively. The levels of PM2.5 accounted for 80-97% of their respective PM10 concentrations. The average formaldehyde (HCHO) concentrations at fixed and moving sites in night markets ranged from 0 to 0.05 ppm during non-open hours and from 0.02 to 0.27 ppm during open hours. The average concentration of individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was found in the range of 0.09 x 10(4) to 1.8 x 10(4) ng/m3. The total identified PAHs (TIPs) ranged from 7.8 x 10(1) to 20 x 10(1) ng/m3 during non-open hours and from 1.5 x 10(4) to 4.0 x 10(4) ng/m3 during open hours. Of the total analyzed PAHs, the low-molecular-weight PAHs (two to three rings) were the dominant species, corresponding to an average of 97% during non-open hours and 88% during open hours, whereas high-molecular-weight PAHs (four to six rings) represented 3 and 12% of the total detected PAHs in the gas phase during non-open and open hours, respectively.

The nightly build system used so far by LHCb has been implemented as an extension of the system developed by CERN PH/SFT group (as presented at CHEP2010). Although this version has been working for many years, it has several limitations in terms of extensibility, management and ease of use, so that it was decided to develop a new version based on a continuous integration system. In this paper we describe a new implementation of the LHCb Nightly Build System based on the open source continuous integration system Jenkins and report on the experience of configuring a complex build workflow in Jenkins.

This study assessed the utility of a combined field and laboratory research design for measuring the impact of consecutive night shift work on the sleepiness, vigilance, and driving performance of police patrol officers. For police patrol officers working their normal night shift duty cycles, simulated driving performance and psychomotor vigilance were measured in a laboratory on two separate occasions: in the morning after the last of five consecutive 10.7-h night shifts, and at the same time in the morning after three consecutive days off duty. Order of participation in conditions was randomized among subjects. Subjects experienced manipulation of sleep schedules due to working night shifts in a real operational environment, but performance testing was conducted under controlled laboratory conditions. N = 29 active-duty police patrol officers (27 male, 2 female; age 37.1 ± 6.3 years) working night shift schedules participated in this study. Simulated driving performance, psychomotor vigilance, and subjective sleepiness were significantly degraded following 5 consecutive night shifts as compared to 3 consecutive days off duty, indicating that active-duty police officers are susceptible to performance degradation as a consequence of working nights. This combined field and laboratory research design succeeded in bridging the gap between the realism of the operational environment and the control of laboratory performance testing, demonstrating that this is a useful approach for addressing the relationship between shift work induced fatigue and critical operational task performance.

Night-shift workers are at high risk of drowsiness-related motor vehicle crashes as a result of circadian disruption and sleep restriction. However, the impact of actual night-shift work on measures of drowsiness and driving performance while operating a real motor vehicle remains unknown. Sixteen night-shift workers completed two 2-h daytime driving sessions on a closed driving track at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety: (i) a postsleep baseline driving session after an average of 7.6 ± 2.4 h sleep the previous night with no night-shift work, and (ii) a postnight-shift driving session following night-shift work. Physiological measures of drowsiness were collected, including infrared reflectance oculography, electroencephalography, and electrooculography. Driving performance measures included lane excursions, near-crash events, and drives terminated because of failure to maintain control of the vehicle. Eleven near-crashes occurred in 6 of 16 postnight-shift drives (37.5%), and 7 of 16 postnight-shift drives (43.8%) were terminated early for safety reasons, compared with zero near-crashes or early drive terminations during 16 postsleep drives (Fishers exact: P = 0.0088 and P = 0.0034, respectively). Participants had a significantly higher rate of lane excursions, average Johns Drowsiness Scale, blink duration, and number of slow eye movements during postnight-shift drives compared with postsleep drives (3.09/min vs. 1.49/min; 1.71 vs. 0.97; 125 ms vs. 100 ms; 35.8 vs. 19.1; respectively, P < 0.05 for all). Night-shift work increases driver drowsiness, degrading driving performance and increasing the risk of near-crash drive events. With more than 9.5 million Americans working overnight or rotating shifts and one-third of United States commutes exceeding 30 min, these results have implications for traffic and occupational safety.

Night-shift workers are at high risk of drowsiness-related motor vehicle crashes as a result of circadian disruption and sleep restriction. However, the impact of actual night-shift work on measures of drowsiness and driving performance while operating a real motor vehicle remains unknown. Sixteen night-shift workers completed two 2-h daytime driving sessions on a closed driving track at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety: (i) a postsleep baseline driving session after an average of 7.6 ± 2.4 h sleep the previous night with no night-shift work, and (ii) a postnight-shift driving session following night-shift work. Physiological measures of drowsiness were collected, including infrared reflectance oculography, electroencephalography, and electrooculography. Driving performance measures included lane excursions, near-crash events, and drives terminated because of failure to maintain control of the vehicle. Eleven near-crashes occurred in 6 of 16 postnight-shift drives (37.5%), and 7 of 16 postnight-shift drives (43.8%) were terminated early for safety reasons, compared with zero near-crashes or early drive terminations during 16 postsleep drives (Fishers exact: P = 0.0088 and P = 0.0034, respectively). Participants had a significantly higher rate of lane excursions, average Johns Drowsiness Scale, blink duration, and number of slow eye movements during postnight-shift drives compared with postsleep drives (3.09/min vs. 1.49/min; 1.71 vs. 0.97; 125 ms vs. 100 ms; 35.8 vs. 19.1; respectively, P < 0.05 for all). Night-shift work increases driver drowsiness, degrading driving performance and increasing the risk of near-crash drive events. With more than 9.5 million Americans working overnight or rotating shifts and one-third of United States commutes exceeding 30 min, these results have implications for traffic and occupational safety. PMID:26699470

What advanced 4- and 5-year-old children know about night and day in relationship to the earth and sun was studied to test the hypothesis that two teaching activities would help children to understand the cause of the phenomenon. Participants were 21 middle to upper class boys and girls enrolled in a part-time early childhood enrichment program…

Relations between night waking in infants and depressive symptoms in their mothers at 6 months postpartum were examined using the data from the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care. Although more depressive symptoms were only weakly correlated with a higher frequency of infant waking, longer wake…

We compared the contributions of bright light during the night shift and dark goggles during daylight for phase shifting the circadian rhythm of temperature to realign with a 12-hour shift of sleep. After 10 baseline days there were 8 night-work/day-sleep days. Temperature was continuously recorded from 50 subjects. There were four groups in a 2 x 2 design: light (bright, dim), goggles (yes, no). Subjects were exposed to bright light (about 5,000 lux) for 6 hours on the first 2 night shifts. Dim light was < 500 lux. Both bright light and goggles were significant factors for producing circadian rhythm phase shifts. The combination of bright light plus goggles was the most effective, whereas the combination of dim light and no goggles was the least effective. The temperature rhythm either phase advanced or phase delayed when it aligned with daytime sleep. However, when subjects did not have goggles only phase advances occurred. Goggles were necessary for producing phase delays. The most likely explanation is that daylight during the travel-home window after a night shift inhibits phase-delay shifts, and goggles can prevent this inhibition. Larger temperature-rhythm phase shifts were associated with better subjective daytime sleep, less subjective fatigue and better mood.

Family Literacy Night is an exciting way to engage students and their parents in meaningful literacy activities while building community spirit and strengthening the partnership between school and home. It is an opportunity for students to show their parents what they do in school; how they create in the computer lab, how they work in the art…

Visual processing leads to false security. Professor Emeritus Herschel W. Leibowitz of Pennsylvania State University pointed out some important facts about night-time navigation-vehicular or other - in a 1995 Distinguished Scientific Award Address, printed last spring in American Psychologist. People are often more tired at night. If they are working overtime or doing shift work, their systems are probably off-kilter. Unquestionably, they cannot see as well at night-night myopia has been investigated since the 18th century. The problem is this: with those factors so obvious, why do people fail to compensate for them by changing their driving habits enough tomore » balance out the risks? First, researchers poking around in, among other places, the brains of hamsters, discovered that there are two functionally separate visual processing systems. The orientation and guidance system is much less sensitive to the amount of light than is the focal systems; the latter is the system with which we recognize objects. That means a worker can securely find his or her way to the substation entrance form the parking lot, despite low light, but can easily stumble in an unexpected pot-hole on the way. Or a driver can stick to his lane, with the familiar help of feedback from the steering wheel, but be too slow to identify objects in the road.« less

This edited volume is the best source for the increasingly recognized impact of artificial night lighting on the living world. Fifteen chapters cover effects of artificial lighting on mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, invertebrates (mostly insects), and plants. The book was an outgrowt...

Urban planning including traffic signs serve vital functions, providing road users with regulatory, warning and guidance information about the roadway and surrounding environment. There are a large number of signs and even more guidelines on how these signs should be designed, installed, and maintained in concordance with on road surface traffic signs. More requirements for signs are made for night urban traffic, including appearance (size, shape, colour), placement (height, lateral, and longitudinal), maintenance (visibility, position, damage) and signs light and retroreflective. In the night, traffic signs visibility can interact by on pedestrian visibility and diminish urban traffic safety. The main aim of this paper are the scientific determination of an urban specific zone visibility for evaluate at night real conditions in case of a traffic accident in the Braşov city area. The night visibility study was made using PC-Rect version 4.2. Other goal of the paper was to modify some urban planning solution in order to increase the urban safety in Brașov.

This report describes an investigation into the performance of pavement markings in wet night conditions. The performance of a typical pavement marking will degrade when it gets wet. This is a result of the flooding of the marking optics, thereby red...

NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center Director Patrick Scheuermann throws the first pitch of the game Aug. 20 at New Orleans Zephyr Field. Stennis employees traveled to New Orleans to host NASA Night at Zephyr Field. Stennis personnel provided a variety of activities and materials for persons attending a game between the New Orleans Zephyrs and the Las Vegas 51s.

Lumbricus terrestris L. (the dew worm) forages, mates and migrates on the soil surface during the night. Its distribution covers a broad latitudinal gradient and variation in day length conditions. Since soil-surface activity is crucial for the survival and reproduction of dew worms, it is conceivab...

The puzzle as to just why the sky is dark at night, given that there are so many stars, has been around at least since Newton. This article summarizes six cosmological models that have been used to attempt to give an account of this puzzle including the Copernican universe, the Newton-Halley universe, the nineteenth century "one galaxy"…

Stennis employee Chris Smith helps a young child 'launch' a balloon rocket. Employees from NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center traveled to New Orleans on Aug. 20 to host NASA Night at Zephyr Field. Stennis personnel provided a variety of activities and materials for persons attending a game between the New Orleans Zephyrs and the Las Vegas 51s.

This is the first article in a series of three looking at patients' sleep in hospitals. This article explores the nature of sleep and reviews the various theories that have been put forward to explain why we need to sleep. The other two articles will concentrate on sleep disorders and hospitalisation, and the role of the night nurse.

Use of a cellular phone has been shown to negatively affect one's attention to the driving task, leading to an increase in crash risk. At any given daylight hour, about 6% of US drivers are actively talking on a hand-held cell phone. However, previous surveys have focused only on cell phone use during the day. Driving at night has been shown to be a riskier activity than driving during the day. The purpose of the current study was to assess the rate of hand-held cellular phone use while driving at night, using specialized night vision equipment. In 2006, two statewide direct observation survey waves of nighttime cellular phone use were conducted in Indiana utilizing specialized night vision equipment. Combined results of driver hand-held cellular phone use from both waves are presented in this manuscript. The rates of nighttime cell phone use were similar to results found in previous daytime studies. The overall rate of nighttime hand-held cellular phone use was 5.8 +/- 0.6%. Cellular phone use was highest for females and for younger drivers. In fact, the highest rate observed during the study (of 11.9%) was for 16-to 29-year-old females. The high level of cellular phone use found within the young age group, coupled with the increased crash risk associated with cellular phone use, nighttime driving, and for young drivers in general, suggests that this issue may become an important transportation-related concern.

Dozens of inflatable aliens recently "descended" upon the authors' middle school to kick-off their first school-wide Astronomy night. With an estimated attendance of over 500, their eighth-grade students hosted over a dozen activity-rich sessions designed to entertain and educate students and their families about the wonders of the solar system…

Study Objective: To test the hypothesis that respiratory event duration exhibits an endogenous circadian rhythm. Design: Within-subject and between-subjects. Settings: Inpatient intensive physiologic monitoring unit at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. Participants: Seven subjects with moderate/severe sleep apnea and four controls, age 48 (SD = 12) years, 7 males. Interventions: Subjects completed a 5-day inpatient protocol in dim light. Polysomnography was recorded during an initial control 8-h night scheduled at the usual sleep time, then through 10 recurrent cycles of 2 h 40 min sleep and 2 h 40 min wake evenly distributed across all circadian phases, and finally during another 8-h control sleep period. Measurements and Results: Event durations, desaturations, and apnea-hypopnea index for each sleep opportunity were assessed according to circadian phase (derived from salivary melatonin), time into sleep, and sleep stage. Average respiratory event durations in NREM sleep significantly lengthened across both control nights (21.9 to 28.2 sec and 23.7 to 30.2 sec, respectively). During the circadian protocol, event duration in NREM increased across the circadian phases that corresponded to the usual sleep period, accounting for > 50% of the increase across normal 8-h control nights. AHI and desaturations were also rhythmic: AHI was highest in the biological day while desaturations were greatest in the biological night. Conclusions: The endogenous circadian system plays an important role in the prolongation of respiratory events across the night, and might provide a novel therapeutic target for modulating sleep apnea. Citation: Butler MP, Smales C, Wu H, Hussain MV, Mohamed YA, Morimoto M, Shea SA. The circadian system contributes to apnea lengthening across the night in obstructive sleep apnea. SLEEP 2015;38(11):1793–1801. PMID:26039970

The median incidence of adverse events that may result in patient injury is a total of 9% of all in-hospital admissions. In order to reduce this high incidence initiatives are continuously worked on that can reduce the risk of patient harm during admission by strengthening hospital systems. However, the influence of physicians' shift work on the risk on adverse events in patients remains controversial. In the studies included in this PhD thesis we wished to examine the impact of sleep deprivation and circadian rhythm disturbances on surgeons' during night shifts. Further we wished to examine the impact sleep deprivation had on surgeons' performance as a measure of how patient safety would be affected. We found that sleep deprivation subjectively had an impact on the surgeons and that they were aware of the effect fatigue had on their work performance. As a result they applied different mechanisms to cope with fatigue. Attending surgeons felt that they had a better overview now, due to more experience and better skills, than when they were residents, despite the fatigue on night shifts. We monitored surgeons' performance during night shifts by laparoscopic simulation and cognitive tests in order to assess their performance; no deterioration was found when pre call values were compared to on call values. The surgeons were monitored prospectively for 4 days across a night shift in order to assess the circadian rhythm and sleep. We found that surgeons' circadian rhythm was affected by working night shifts and their sleep pattern altered, resembling that of shift workers on the post call day. We assessed the quality of admission in medical records as a measure of surgeons' performance, during day, evening and night hours and found no deterioration in the quality of night time medical records. However, consistent high errors were found in several categories. These findings should be followed up in the future with respect of clarifying mechanism and consequences for

Eating during the night may increase the risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes in shift workers. This study examined the impact of either eating or not eating a meal at night on glucose metabolism. Participants underwent four nights of simulated night work (SW1-4, 16:00-10:00 h, <50 lux) with a daytime sleep opportunity each day (10:00-16:00 h, <3 lux). Healthy males were assigned to an eating at night (NE; n = 4, meals; 07:00, 19:00 and 01:30 h) or not eating at night (NEN; n = 7, meals; 07:00 h, 09:30, 16:10 and 19:00 h) condition. Meal tolerance tests were conducted post breakfast on pre-night shift (PRE), SW4 and following return to day shift (RTDS), and glucose and insulin area under the curve (AUC) were calculated. Mixed-effects ANOVAs were used with fixed effects of condition and day, and their interactions, and a random effect of subject identifier on the intercept. Fasting glucose and insulin were not altered by day or condition. There were significant effects of day and condition × day (both p night (p = 0.040) and not eating at night (p = 0.006) conditions. Results in this small, healthy sample suggest that not eating at night may limit the metabolic consequences of simulated night work. Further study is needed to explore whether matching food intake to the biological clock could reduce the burden of type 2 diabetes in shift workers.

The ATLAS Nightly Build System is a major component in the ATLAS collaborative software organization, validation, and code approval scheme. For over 10 years of development it has evolved into a factory for automatic release production and grid distribution. The 50 multi-platform branches of ATLAS releases provide vast opportunities for testing new packages, verification of patches to existing software, and migration to new platforms and compilers for ATLAS code that currently contains 2200 packages with 4 million C++ and 1.4 million python scripting lines written by about 1000 developers. Recent development was focused on the integration of ATLAS Nightly Build and Installation systems. The nightly releases are distributed and validated and some are transformed into stable releases used for data processing worldwide. The ATLAS Nightly System is managed by the NICOS control tool on a computing farm with 50 powerful multiprocessor nodes. NICOS provides the fully automated framework for the release builds, testing, and creation of distribution kits. The ATN testing framework of the Nightly System runs unit and integration tests in parallel suites, fully utilizing the resources of multi-core machines, and provides the first results even before compilations complete. The NICOS error detection system is based on several techniques and classifies the compilation and test errors according to their severity. It is periodically tuned to place greater emphasis on certain software defects by highlighting the problems on NICOS web pages and sending automatic e-mail notifications to responsible developers. These and other recent developments will be presented and future plans will be described.

Introduction In the past the National Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative deaths (NCEPOD) have advocated a reduction in non-essential night-time operating in NHS hospitals. In this study a retrospective analysis of the emergency general surgical operative workload at a London Teaching centre was performed. Methods All general surgical and vascular emergency operations recorded prospectively on the theatre database between 1997 and 2004 were included in the study. Operations were categorised according to whether they commenced during the daytime(08:01–18:00 hours), evening(18:01–00:00 hours) or night-time(00:01–08:00 hours). The procedure type and grade of the participating surgical personnel were also recorded. Bivariate correlation was used to analyse changing trends in the emergency workload. Results In total 5,316 emergency operations were performed over the study period. The numbers of daytime, evening and night-time emergency procedures performed were 2,963(55.7%), 1,832(34.5%), and 521(9.8%) respectively. Laparotomies and complex vascular procedures collectively accounted for half of all cases performed after midnight whereas they represented only 30% of the combined daytime and evening emergency workload. Thirty-two percent (n = 166) of all night-time operations were supervised or performed by a consultant surgeon. The annual volume of emergency cases performed increased significantly throughout the study period. Enhanced daytime (r = 0.741, p < 0.01) and evening (r = 0.548, p < 0.01) operating absorbed this increase in workload. There was no significant change in the absolute number of cases performed at night but the proportion of the emergency workload that took place after midnight decreased significantly throughout the study (r = -0.742, p < 0.01). Conclusion A small but consistent volume of complex cases require emergency surgery after midnight. Provision of an emergency general surgical service must incorporate this need. PMID:17973987

Teaching by night and reflecting on a subject by day is the way that Salman Khan sees education evolving in the age of online lectures. Khan believes he is onto something in what he styles the "flipped classroom." In Khan's view, there is no need for students to be divided into grades by age. Instead, they should learn at their own pace, moving on…

We compared bright-light durations of 6, 3 and 0 hours (i.e. dim light) during simulated night shifts for phase shifting the circadian rectal temperature rhythm to align with a 12-hour shift of the sleep schedule. After 10 baseline days there were 8 consecutive night-work, day-sleep days, with 8-hour sleep (dark) periods. The bright light (about 5,000 lux, around the baseline temperature minimum) was used during all 8 night shifts, and dim light was < 500 lux. This was a field study in which subjects (n = 46) went outside after the night shifts and slept at home. Substantial circadian adaptation (i.e. a large cumulative temperature rhythm phase shift) was produced in many subjects in the bright light groups, but not in the dim light group. Six and 3 hours of bright light were each significantly better than dim light for phase shifting the temperature rhythm, but there was no significant difference between 6 and 3 hours. Thus, durations > 3 hours are probably not necessary in similar shift-work situations. Larger temperature rhythm phase shifts were associated with better subjective daytime sleep, less subjective fatigue and better overall mood.

Even though unhealthy consequences of night work for women have been evidenced by international scientific literature only in recent years, they were well acknowledged from ancient times. This essay traces the historical evolution of women's health conditions at work, focusing specifically on nocturnal work. Using the legendary web of Penelope of ancient Greek myths as a metaphor, the paper analyses the early limitations of night-work for women in pre-industrial era and the development of a modern international legislation on this issue, aimed at protecting women's health at the beginning of the twentieth century. The reform of national legislations in a gender-neutral manner has recently abolished gender disparities in night-work, but it seems it also reduced women's protection at work.

Information about the preparation and realization of the attractive program for the "Star Night" on September 25, 2009, in Shumen, is presented. Its goal is popularization of the European initiative "Research Night" in Bulgaria.

Through selected case studies, this report illustrates how the inadequate visibility of road signs and pavement markings at night contributes to wrong-way driving. A concept termed "keg of legibility" for visibility at night has been developed by the...

On a clear, starry night, the jewelled beauty and unimaginable immensity of our Universe is awe-inspiring. Star-gazing with binoculars is rewarding and may begin a lifelong hobby! Patrick Moore has painstakingly researched Exploring the Night Sky with Binoculars to describe how to use binoculars for astronomical observation. He explains basic astronomy and the selection of binoculars, then discusses the stars, clusters, nebulae and galaxies that await the observer. The sky seen from northern and southern hemispheres is charted season by season, with detailed maps of all the constellations. The reader can also observe the Sun, Moon, planets, comets and meteors. With many beautiful illustrations, this handbook will be helpful and encouraging to casual observers and those cultivating a more serious interest. The enjoyment of amateur astronomy is now available to everybody.

A four-channel automotive night vision system is designed and developed .It is consist of the four active near-infrared cameras and an Mulit-channel image processing display unit,cameras were placed in the automobile front, left, right and rear of the system .The system uses near-infrared laser light source，the laser light beam is collimated, the light source contains a thermoelectric cooler (TEC),It can be synchronized with the camera focusing, also has an automatic light intensity adjustment, and thus can ensure the image quality. The principle of composition of the system is description in detail,on this basis, beam collimation,the LD driving and LD temperature control of near-infrared laser light source,four-channel image processing display are discussed.The system can be used in driver assistance, car BLIS, car parking assist system and car alarm system in day and night.

Exposure to artificial light at night (ALAN) has become increasing common, especially in developed countries. We investigated the effect of dALAN exposure during sleep in healthy young male subjects. A total of 30 healthy young male volunteers from 21 to 29 years old were recruited for the study. They were randomly divided into two groups depending on light intensity (Group A: 5 lux and Group B: 10 lux). After a quality control process, 23 healthy subjects were included in the study (Group A: 11 subjects, Group B: 12 subjects). Subjects underwent an NPSG session with no light (Night 1) followed by an NPSG session randomly assigned to two different dim light conditions (5 or 10 lux, dom λ: 501.4 nm) for a whole night (Night 2). We found significant sleep structural differences between Nights 1 and 2, but no difference between Groups A and B. Exposure to dALAN during sleep was significantly associated with increased wake time after sleep onset (WASO; F = 7.273, p = 0.014), increased Stage N1 (F = 4.524, p = 0.045), decreased Stage N2 (F = 9.49, p = 0.006), increased Stage R (F = 6.698, p = 0.017) and non-significantly decreased REM density (F = 4.102, p = 0.056). We found that dALAN during sleep affects sleep structure. Exposure to dALAN during sleep increases the frequency of arousals, amount of shallow sleep and amount of REM sleep. This suggests adverse effects of dALAN during sleep on sleep quality and suggests the need to avoid exposure to dALAN during sleep.

Continue on reverse aide it necessary and identify by block number) hypoxia, anoxia , night vision, dark adaptation, extended hypoxia /y虦 SABDST’RACT M=t...and his colleagues, who not only quantified significant aspects of the dark adaptation function due to anoxia (hypoxia) (12,13,14,16), but also...and his co-workers (7) conducted related and very significant research on bright- ness discrimination, and concluded that anoxia acts mainly on the

Measuring the brightness of the night sky has become an increasingly important topic in recent years, as artificial lights and their scattering by the Earth's atmosphere continue spreading around the globe. Several instruments and techniques have been developed for this task. We give an overview of these, and discuss their strengths and limitations. The different quantities that can and should be derived when measuring the night sky brightness are discussed, as well as the procedures that have been and still need to be defined in this context. We conclude that in many situations, calibrated consumer digital cameras with fisheye lenses provide the best relation between ease-of-use and wealth of obtainable information on the night sky. While they do not obtain full spectral information, they are able to sample the complete sky in a period of minutes, with colour information in three bands. This is important, as given the current global changes in lamp spectra, changes in sky radiance observed only with single band devices may lead to incorrect conclusions regarding long term changes in sky brightness. The acquisition of all-sky information is desirable, as zenith-only information does not provide an adequate characterization of a site. Nevertheless, zenith-only single-band one-channel devices such as the "Sky Quality Meter" continue to be a viable option for long-term studies of night sky brightness and for studies conducted from a moving platform. Accurate interpretation of such data requires some understanding of the colour composition of the sky light. We recommend supplementing long-term time series derived with such devices with periodic all-sky sampling by a calibrated camera system and calibrated luxmeters or luminance meters.

The word "planet" comes from the Latin word planeta and the Greek word planes, which means "wanderer." When the ancient Greeks studied the night sky they noticed that most of the stars remained in the same position relative to all the other stars, but a few stars seem to move in the sky from day to day, week to week, and month to month. The Greeks called these rogue stars "wanderers" because they wandered through the starry background.

In Italy the economic crisis has caused changes in behavior in daily as well as leisure activities. For instance, night clubs have changed both their scenography and what they can offer. From simply providing a place to dance, they can now offer more complex scenography with spectacular fireworks and lit cocktails. While this can be amazing for all of us it can also be another cause of burn injuries. We conducted a retrospective study of all burns patients admitted to the Accident and Emergency Department at CTO Hospital in Turin from 2009 to 2013, after a night clubbing. A total of five patients were identified with an average age of 20 years old: four were burned by flaming cocktails and one was burned by a firework. Two received outpatient treatment, while orotracheal intubation and admission were needed for three, and two required surgical debridement and resurfacing with split skin graft. All patients had permanent sequelae caused by pathologic scarring and/or dyschromia. Our findings show that the risk of burn injuries is higher at weekends, mainly in summer, if all correct safety procedures are not followed. Meanwhile it is important to highlight that the promotion of inappropriate behavior at night clubs during firework displays and the passing of flaming cocktails should be avoided.

Released 22 June 2004 This pair of images shows part of Arsia Mons. Day/Night Infrared Pairs The image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top. Infrared image interpretation Daytime: Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark. Nighttime: Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images. Image information: IR instrument. Latitude -19.6, Longitude 241.9 East (118.1 West). 100 meter/pixel resolution. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06399

Released 24 June 2004 This pair of images shows a crater and its ejecta. Day/Night Infrared Pairs The image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top. Infrared image interpretation Daytime: Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark. Nighttime: Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images. Image information: IR instrument. Latitude -9, Longitude 164.2 East (195.8 West). 100 meter/pixel resolution. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06445

Let There Be Night is an interactive planetarium program that supports a community-wide experiment to quantify local sky glow. In the planetarium, visitors will experience three aspects of light pollution--glare, sky glow, and light trespass--and decide whether and how to confront dark sky issues. Planetarians can select optional recorded stories and lessons to complement live demonstrations or star talks. As a companion experiment, students in grades 3-8 from one school district will then submit their backyard observations of Orion's limiting magnitude to the 2009 Globe at Night star hunt while small student teams concurrently quantify sky glow from each schoolyard with hand-held meters. After mapping their results and having classroom discussions, students will present their findings to the School Board. Material compiled and created for the program will be available for other dark sky advocates at www.LetThereBeNight.com, while large digital files will be distributed on disk through two planetarium associations. A 2008 Toyota TAPESTRY grant has enticed significant professional support, additional funding, and in-kind contributions.

Summary In Italy the economic crisis has caused changes in behavior in daily as well as leisure activities. For instance, night clubs have changed both their scenography and what they can offer. From simply providing a place to dance, they can now offer more complex scenography with spectacular fireworks and lit cocktails. While this can be amazing for all of us it can also be another cause of burn injuries. We conducted a retrospective study of all burns patients admitted to the Accident and Emergency Department at CTO Hospital in Turin from 2009 to 2013, after a night clubbing. A total of five patients were identified with an average age of 20 years old: four were burned by flaming cocktails and one was burned by a firework. Two received outpatient treatment, while orotracheal intubation and admission were needed for three, and two required surgical debridement and resurfacing with split skin graft. All patients had permanent sequelae caused by pathologic scarring and/or dyschromia. Our findings show that the risk of burn injuries is higher at weekends, mainly in summer, if all correct safety procedures are not followed. Meanwhile it is important to highlight that the promotion of inappropriate behavior at night clubs during firework displays and the passing of flaming cocktails should be avoided. PMID:26668565

In July 1983, the Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) was flown over Death Valley, California on both a midday and predawn flight within a two-day period. The availability of calibrated digital data permitted the calculation of day and night surface temperature and surface spectral emittance. Image processing of the data included panorama correction and calibration to radiance using the on-board black bodies and the measured spectral response of each channel. Scene-dependent isolated-point noise due to bit drops, was located by its relatively discontinuous values and replaced by the average of the surrounding data values. A method was developed in order to separate the spectral and temperature information contained in the TIMS data. Night and day data sets were processed. The TIMS is unique in allowing collection of both spectral emittance and thermal information in digital format with the same airborne scanner. For the first time it was possible to produce day and night emittance images of the same area, coregistered. These data add to an understanding of the physical basis for the discrimination of difference in surface materials afforded by TIMS.

Many mothers work in jobs with nonstandard schedules (i.e., schedules that involve work outside of the traditional 9-5, Monday through Friday schedule); this is particularly true for economically disadvantaged mothers. In the present article, we used longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey (n = 2,367 mothers of children ages 3-5 years) to examine the associations between maternal nonstandard work and children's behavior problems, with a particular focus on mothers' night shift work. We employed 3 analytic strategies with various approaches to adjusting for observed and unobserved selection factors; these approaches provided an upper and lower bound on the true relationship between night shift work and children's behavior. Taken together, the results provide suggestive evidence for modest associations between exposure to maternal night shift work and higher levels of aggressive and anxious or depressed behavior in children compared with children whose mothers who are not working, those whose mothers work other types of nonstandard shifts, and, for aggressive behavior, those whose mothers work standard shifts.

Summary: It has been shown that Light at Night (LAN) has serious implications for both the environment and human health. What is considered here are the social implications that arise from these problems, and what needs to be done to redress these issues.Introduction: Light at Night is a serious environmental problem whose environmental and medical implications have been seriously underestimated. If no action is taken the problem will become progressively worse and may reach a point where nothing can be done about it. The issues arising from it need to be identified andappropriate action taken to mitigate these issues as far as possible. Hopefully this can be done amicably by self regulation within communities, but if this fails then stringent anti-light pollution legislation will have to be enacted. Some countries and local authorities have already begun to make faltering steps in this direction1, but so far the measures taken have been minimal and largely ineffective. Light at Night (and the light pollution resulting from it) therefore remains a problem and continues to get worse despite the measures already taken to reduce it. Domes of scattered light continue to hang above our cities, killing off our wildlife and endangering public health. Attitudes need to change and urgent measures need to be taken in order to reduce or eliminate its impact.

We developed a simple and fast lookup-table based method to derive and apply natural daylight colors to multi-band night-time images. The method deploys an optimal color transformation derived from a set of samples taken from a daytime color reference image. The colors in the resulting colorized multiband night-time images closely resemble the colors in the daytime color reference image. Also, object colors remain invariant under panning operations and are independent of the scene content. Here we describe the implementation of this method in two prototype portable dual band realtime night vision systems. One system provides co-aligned visual and near-infrared bands of two image intensifiers, the other provides co-aligned images from a digital image intensifier and an uncooled longwave infrared microbolometer. The co-aligned images from both systems are further processed by a notebook computer. The color mapping is implemented as a realtime lookup table transform. The resulting colorised video streams can be displayed in realtime on head mounted displays and stored on the hard disk of the notebook computer. Preliminary field trials demonstrate the potential of these systems for applications like surveillance, navigation and target detection.

The Polar Night Nitric Oxide or PolarNOx experiment from Virginia Tech is launched aboard a NASA Black Brant IX sounding rocket at 8:45 a.m. EST, Jan. 27, from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. PolarNOx is measuring nitric oxide in the polar night sky. Nitric oxide in the polar night sky is created by auroras. Under appropriate conditions it can be transported to the stratosphere where it may destroy ozone resulting in possible changes in stratospheric temperature and wind and may even impact the circulation at Earth’s surface. Credit: NASA/Wallops/Jamie Adkins NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission. Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook Find us on Instagram

Including night vision capabilities in Helmet Mounted Displays has been a serious challenge for many years. The use of "see through" head mounted image intensifiers systems is particularly challenging as it introduces some peculiar visual characteristics usually referred as "hyperstereopsis". Flight testing of such systems has started in the early nineties, both in US and Europe. While the trials conducted in US yielded quite controversial results, convergent positive ones were obtained from European testing, mainly in UK, Germany and France. Subsequently, work on integrating optically coupled I2 tubes on HMD was discontinued in the US, while European manufacturers developed such HMDs for various rotary wings platforms like the TIGER. Coping with hyperstereopsis raises physiological and cognitive human factors issues. Starting in the sixties, effects of increased interocular separation and adaptation to such unusual vision conditions has been quite extensively studied by a number of authors as Wallach, Schor, Judge and Miles, Fisher and Ciuffreda. A synthetic review of literature on this subject will be presented. According to users' reports, three successive phases will be described for habituation to such devices: initial exposure, building compensation phase and behavioral adjustments phase. An habituation model will be suggested to account for HMSD users' reports and literature data bearing on hyperstereopsis, cue weighting for depth perception, adaptation and learning processes, task cognitive control. Finally, some preliminary results on hyperstereopsis spatial and temporal adaptation coming from the survey of training of TIGER pilots, currently conducted at the French-German Army Aviation Training Center, will be unveiled.

Eveningness has been suggested as a facilitating factor in adaptation to shift work, with several studies reporting evening chronotypes (E-types) as better sleepers when on night shifts. Conversely, eveningness has been associated with more sleep complaints during day shifts. However, sleep during day shifts has received limited attention in previous studies assessing chronotypes in shift workers. Environmental light exposure has also been reported to differ between chronotypes in day workers. Activity is also known to provide temporal input to the circadian clock. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare objective sleep, light exposure and activity levels between chronotypes, both during the night and day shifts. Thirty-nine patrol police patrol officers working on a fast rotating shift schedule (mean age ± SD: 28.9 ± 3.2 yrs; 28 males) participated in this study. All subjects completed the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ). Sleep and activity were monitored with actigraphy (Actiwatch-L; Mini-Mitter/Respironics, Bend, OR) for four consecutive night shifts and four consecutive day shifts (night work schedule: 00:00 h-07:00 h; day work schedule: 07:00 h-15:00 h). Sleep and activity parameters were calculated with Actiware software. MEQ scores ranged from 26 to 56; no subject was categorized as Morning-type. E-types (n = 13) showed significantly lower sleep efficiency, longer snooze time and spent more time awake after sleep onset than Intermediate-types (I-types, n = 26) for both the night and day shifts. E-types also exhibited shorter and more numerous sleep bouts. Furthermore, when napping was taken into account, E-types had shorter total sleep duration than I-types during the day shifts. E-types were more active during the first hours of their night shift when compared to I-types. Also, all participants spent more time active and had higher amount of activity per minute during day shifts when compared to night shifts. No

In young hospital nurses being exposed to a night shift work schedule for the first time in their occupational life, sleep quality is investigated quantitatively. A main sleep period and supplementary sleep periods were defined and analyzed to investigate sleep behavior and quality. A total of 30 young nurses (26 women, 4 men), mean age 20.2 +/- 2.1 years participated. A 3 week nursing school period was followed by a 3 week work period with a 3-5 night shift sub-period and recovery days. Sleep-wake behavior was assessed with an actigraph, sleep diaries, Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS), and quality of life was assessed with a standard questionnaire (SF-36). Comparing the school period with the work shift period when excluding recovery days after night shift period significant increase of total sleep time within 24 h was found during the work days (ANOVA P < 0.05). During the night shift sub-period, there was just a small decline of the main sleep period at day (n.s.) which was not compensated by supplementary sleep episodes. The supplementary sleep during work day varied between 11 min (school period) and 18 min after recovery days from night shift (n.s.). Young healthy nurses tolerate the first night shift exposure very well, according to objective and subjective parameters related to quality of sleep. An increased sleep need during work days lead to longer total sleep time, but do not lead to longer supplementary sleep episodes. Young nurses tolerate the first rotating shift period and the first night shift period very well.

The pattern of secretion of many hormones, including prolactin, is dependent on the circadian rhythm. Night shift work involves exposure to artificial light at night and sleep deficiency, which in turn can affect prolactin synthesis. The aim of this study was to evaluate a possible association between night shift work characteristics, sleep quality, lifestyle factors and prolactin concentration, using data from a cross-sectional study of nurses and midwives. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 327 nurses and midwives currently working on rotating night shifts, and 330 nurses and midwives working during the day (aged 40-60 years) (388 premenopausal and 269 postmenopausal). Information about night shift work characteristics, lifestyle, reproductive factors, sleep pattern and other covariates was collected through a face-to-face interview, and from a one-week work and sleep diary completed by the subjects. Weight and height were measured. Prolactin concentration was measured in the morning blood sample using the electrochemiluminesence immunoassay method. Associations were analyzed using linear regression models adjusted for important confounders. Analyses were carried out separately in pre- and postmenopausal women. None of the night shift work or sleep characteristics was significantly associated with prolactin concentration. Prolactin concentration was significantly (p night shift work is not associated with prolactin concentration. Smoking, parity, time of blood collection and age among postmenopausal women were significant determinants of prolactin.

Short-wavelength and short-wavelength-enhanced light have a strong impact on night-time working performance, subjective feelings of alertness and circadian physiology. In the present study, we investigated acute effects of white light sources with varied reduced portions of short wavelengths on cognitive and visual performance, mood and cardiac output.Thirty-one healthy subjects were investigated in a balanced cross-over design under three light spectra in a simulated night-shift paradigm without circadian adaptation.Exposure to the light spectrum with the largest attenuation of short wavelengths reduced heart rate and increased vagal cardiac parameters during the night compared to the other two light spectra without deleterious effects on sustained attention, working memory and subjective alertness. In addition, colour discrimination capability was significantly decreased under this light source.To our knowledge, the present study for the first time demonstrates that polychromatic white light with reduced short wavelengths, fulfilling current lighting standards for indoor illumination, may have a positive impact on cardiac physiology of night-shift workers without detrimental consequences for cognitive performance and alertness.

The renal and hemodynamic responses of squirrel monkeys to central vascular volume expansion induced by lower body positive pressure (LBPP) during the day and night are investigated. Twelve unanesthetized animals trained to sit in a metabolism chair in which they were restrained only at the waist by a partition separating upper and lower body chambers were subjected to 4 h of continuous LBPP during the day and night, and hemodynamic, urinary and drinking data were monitored. LBPP during day and night is found to induce similar increases in central venous pressure, rises in heart rate and elevations in mean arterial blood pressure. However, although daytime LBPP induced a significant increase in urine flow and sodium excretion, a marked nocturnal inhibition of the renal response to LBPP is observed. Analysis of the time course and circadian regulation patterns of the urinary responses suggests that several separate efferent control pathways are involved.

European Researchers' Nights (ERNs) are a pan-European series of events funded by the European Commission, organised on the last Friday of every September since 2005. ERNs mobilise scientific, academic and research organisations with the aim of giving the public the opportunity to meet researchers in an informal setting. The overall objective of ERNs is to achieve better awareness among the general public concerning the importance of science in everyday life and to combat stereotypes about researchers. The longer-term strategic objective of ERNs is to encourage young people to embark on a scientific career. Volcanoes' Night I-II-III has been an ERN project series funded by the EC FP7 and H2020 programmes between 2012-2015 (EC contract No. 316558, 610050, 633310, www.nochedevolcanes.es). The concept of Volcanoes' Night was created by researchers from the Canary Islands, Spain, where both the researchers and the public live in the close vicinity of volcanoes. The objective of the project was to use volcanoes as a background against which the role of geoscientists could be explained to the public. The scope of Volcanoes' Night was exclusively dedicated to geoscience, and in this respect it stands out among all other ERN projects, which are always more general in scope. During its four years of EC funding, the geographical coverage of Volcanoes' Night expanded substantially from a single location in 2012 (Fuencaliente de La Palma, Spain) to a dozen locations in 2015, mobilising multiple scientific organisations, researchers, and public authorities for engagement with the public. The last EC-funded project, Volcanoes' Night III, which was organised in 2014 and 2015, engaged approximately 21,000 visitors through its outreach activities, which included experiments, science cafés, volcano movies, My Day presentations, excursions, science workshops and more. The impact of the project was carefully assessed via surveys and social studies during its lifetime, and an Impact

Two young male Caucasians volunteered for a study on the effects of cold exposure during night sleep in winter in the Arctic. The 14-day experiment was divided in three consecutive periods, baseline (2 nights), cold exposure (10 night) and recovery (2 nights). Both baseline and recovery data were obtained in neutral thermal conditions in a laboratory. The subjects slept in a sleeping bag under an unheated tent during the cold exposure. Apart from polysomnographic and body temperature recordings, electrocardiograms were taken through a telemetric system for safety purposes. Heart rates were noted at 5-min intervals and averaged hourly. In both environmental conditions, heart rate decreased within the first two hours of sleep. Comparison of the data obtained during cold exposure vs. thermal neutrality revealed lower values of heart rate in the cold, while body temperatures remained within normal range. This cold-induced bradycardia supervening during night sleep is discussed in terms of the occurrence of a vagal reflex preventing central blood pressure to rise.

To assess whether the glucosensing capacity in peripheral (liver and Brockmann bodies) and central (hypothalamus and hindbrain) locations of rainbow trout displays day-night variations in its response to changes in circulating glucose levels, we evaluated the response of parameters related to glucosensing [glucose, glycogen and glucose 6-phosphate levels, activities of glucokinase (GK), glycogen synthetase (GSase) and pyruvate kinase (PK), and mRNA abundance of GK, glucose transporter 2 (GLUT2), and K(ATP) channel subunits Kir6.x-like and sulfonylurea receptor (SUR)-like] in fish subjected to hyperglycemic treatment under night or day conditions. No day-night significant variations were noticed in the glucosensing capacity of the hypothalamus, hindbrain and Brockmann bodies. In contrast, a clear differential response was noticed in the liver, where glucose levels, GK activity (and mRNA levels) and GSase activity displayed increased values during the day in hyperglycemic fish compared with controls, and lower (GK mRNA levels) or non-existent (glucose, GK and GSase activities, and Kir6.x-like mRNA levels) values during the night. A similar decrease in parameters related to glucosensing in the liver was observed when fish under day conditions were treated with melatonin, suggesting a modulatory role of melatonin in day-night changes of the glucosensing response in the same tissue.

Work place studies often have the disadvantage of lacking objective data less prone to subject bias. The aim of this study was to contribute objective data to the discussion about safety aspects of night shifts in physicians. For this purpose we applied the Pupillographic Sleepiness Test (PST). The PST allows recording and analyses of pupillary sleepiness-related oscillations in darkness for 11 min in the sitting subject. The parameter of evaluation is the Pupillary Unrest Index (PUI; mm/min). For statistical analysis the natural logarithm of this parameter is used (lnPUI). Thirty-four physicians were examined by the PST and subjective scales during the first half of the day. Data taken during a day work period (D) were compared to those taken directly after night duty (N) by a Wilcoxon signed rank test. Night duty caused a mean sleep reduction of 3 h (Difference N-D: median 3 h, minimum 0 h, maximum 7 h, p < 0.001). Time since the last sleep period was about equal in both conditions (Difference N-D: median -0.25 h, min. -4 h, max. 20 h, p = 0.2). The lnPUI was larger after night duty (Difference N-D: median 0.19, min. -0.71, max. 1.29, p = 0.03). The increase of physiologically measured sleepiness correlated significantly with changes in subjective measures (PUI/SSS, Spearman Rho 0.41, p = 0.02; PUI/VAS, Spearman Rho 0.38, p = 0.02). Despite a mean sleep duration of 4 h, considerable sleepiness in physicians after nights on duty was found, implying lower safety levels for both patients (if physicians remaining on duty) and physicians while commuting home.

Baseline observations of the night sky brightness in B and V are presented for McDonald Observatory. In agreement with earlier work by Elvey and Rudnick (1937) and Elvey (1943), significant night-to-night and same-night variations in sky brightness are found. Possible causes for these variations are discussed. The largest variation in sky brightness found during a single night is approximately a factor of two, a value which corresponds to a factor-of-four variation in airglow brightness. The data are used to comment on the accuracy of previously published surface photometry of M 81.

Foundation Training is designed for doctors in their first two years of post-graduation. The number of foundation doctors (FD) in the UK working nights has reduced because of a perception that clinical supervision at night is unsatisfactory and that minimal training opportunities exist. We aimed to assess the value of night shifts to FDs and hypothesised that removing FDs from nights may be detrimental to training. Using a survey, we assessed the number of FDs working nights in London, FDs views on working nights and their supervision at night. We evaluated whether working at night, compared to daytime working provided opportunities to achieve foundation competencies. 83% (N = 2157/2593) of FDs completed the survey. Over 90% of FDs who worked nights felt that the experience they gained improved their ability to prioritise, make decisions and plan. FDs who worked nights reported higher scores for achieving competencies in history taking (2.67 vs. 2.51; p = 0.00), examination (2.72 vs. 2.59; p = 0.01) and resuscitation (2.27 vs. 1.96; p = 0.00). The majority (65%) felt adequately supervised. Our survey has demonstrated that FDs find working nights a valuable experience, providing important training opportunities, which are additional to those encountered during daytime working.

Using a sky brightness monitor at the Xinglong station of National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, we collected data from 22 dark clear nights and 90 moon nights. We first measured the sky brightness variation with time for dark nights and found a clear correlation between sky brightness and human activity. Then with a modified sky brightness model of moon nights and data from these nights, we derived the typical value for several important parameters in the model. With these results, we calculated the sky brightness distribution under a given moon condition for the Xinglong station. Furthermore, we simulated the sky brightness distribution of a moon night for a telescope with a 5° field of view (such as LAMOST). These simulations will be helpful for determining the limiting magnitude and exposure time, as well as planning the survey for LAMOST during moon nights.

Night eating syndrome (NES) was first identified in 1955 by Stunkard, a psychiatrist specialising in eating disorders (ED). Over the last 20 years considerable progress has been made in defining NES as a significant clinical entity in its own right and it has now been accepted for inclusion in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) due for publication in 2013. NES is considered a dysfunction of circadian rhythm with a disassociation between eating and sleeping. Core criteria include a daily pattern of eating with a significantly increased intake in the evening and/or night time, as manifested by one or both of the following: at least 25% of food intake is consumed after the evening meal or at least two episodes of nocturnal eating per week. An important recent addition to core criteria includes the presence of significant distress and/or impairment in functioning. Stunkard's team recommend further investigation on the pathogenesis of NES, in particular its relationship with traumatic life events, psychiatric comorbidity, the age of onset of NES and course of NES over time. The relationship between NES and other ED also requires further clarification as night-eaters exhibit some features of other ED; previous guidance to separate NES from other ED may have hindered earlier characterisation of NES. Evidence from European and American studies suggests NES features strongly in populations with severe obesity. The complex interplay between depression, impaired sleep and obesity-related comorbidity in severely obese individuals makes understanding NES in this context even more difficult. This review examines evidence to date on the characterisation of NES and concludes by examining the applicability of current NES criteria to individuals with severe obesity. PMID:23446659

This nighttime temperature image from the camera system on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft shows the ancient, heavily cratered surface of the highlands between Isidis and Elysium Planitia. The image is entered near 9 degrees north latitude, 109 degrees east longitude, and covers an area approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide by 120 kilometers (75 miles) long. The bright 'splashes' extending outward from the three large craters are the remnants of the rocky material thrown out when the impact occurred. The nighttime temperature differences are due primarily to differences in the abundance of rocky materials that retain their heat at night and stay relatively warm. Fine grained dust and sand cool off more rapidly at night. The circular rims of the craters in this region are warm at night, showing that rocks are still present on the steep walls inside the craters. The 'splash' ejecta patterns are also warmer than their surroundings, and are covered by material that was blasted out when the craters formed. The temperatures in this scene vary from approximately -105 degrees Celsius (-157 degrees Fahrenheit)(darkest) to -75 degrees Celsius (-103 degrees Fahrenheit) (lightest). This image was acquired using the instrument's infrared Band 9, centered at 12.6 micrometers. North is toward the left in this image.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science in Washington, D.C. Investigators at Arizona State University in Tempe, the University of Arizona in Tucson and NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, operate the science instruments. Additional science partners are located at the Russian Aviation and Space Agency and at Los Alamos National Laboratories, New Mexico. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin

Many stony coral-dwelling fishes exhibit adaptations to deal with hypoxia among the branches of their hosts; however, no information exists on the respiratory ecophysiology of obligate fish associates of non-coral organisms such as sea anemones and sponges. This study investigated metabolic and behavioral interactions between two-band anemonefish (Amphiprion bicinctus) and bulb-tentacle sea anemones (Entacmaea quadricolor) at night. We measured the net dark oxygen uptake ( , μmol O2 h(-1)) of fish-anemone pairs when partners were separate from each other, together as a unit, and together as a unit but separated by a mesh screen that prevented physical contact. We also measured the effects of water current on sea anemone and quantified the nocturnal behaviors of fish in the absence and presence of host anemones in order to discern the impacts of anemone presence on fish behavior. Net of united pairs was significantly higher than that of both separated pairs and united pairs that were separated by a mesh screen. Anemone increased with flow rate from 0.5 to 2.0 cm s(-1), after which remained constant up to a water flow rate of 8.0 cm s(-1). Furthermore, the percentage time and bout frequency of flow-modulating behaviors by fish increased significantly when anemones were present. We conclude that physical contact between anemonefish and sea anemones elevates the of at least one of the partners at night, and anemonefish behavior at night appears to oxygenate sea anemone hosts and to augment the metabolism of both partners.

We evaluated human physiological responses and the performance of manual tasks during exposure to severe cold (-25 degrees C) at night (0300-0500 hours) and in the afternoon (1500-1700 hours). Thirteen male students wearing standard cold protective clothing occupied a severely cold room (-25 degrees C) for 20 min, and were then transferred to a cool room (10 degrees C) for 20 min. This pattern of exposure was repeated three times, for a total time of exposure to extreme cold of 60 min. The experiments were started either at 1500 hours or 0300 hours and measurements of rectal temperature, skin temperature, blood pressure, performance in a counting task, hand tremor, and subjective responses were made in each condition. At the end of the experiment at night the mean decrease in rectal temperature [0.68 (SEM 0.04) degree C] was significantly greater than that at the end of the experiment in the afternoon [0.55 (SEM 0.08) degree C, P < 0.01]. After the second cold exposure at night the mean increase in diastolic blood pressure [90 (SEM 2.0) mmHg] was significantly greater than that at the end of the second cold exposure in the afternoon [82 (SEM 2.8) mmHg, P < 0.01]. At the end of the second cold exposure at night, mean finger skin temperature [11.8 (SEM 0.8) degrees C] was significantly higher than that at the comparable time in the afternoon [9.0 (SEM 0.7) degrees C, P < 0.01]. Similarly for the toe, mean skin temperature at the start of the second cold exposure at night [25.6 (SEM 1.5) degrees C] was significantly higher than in the afternoon [20.1 (SEM 0.8) degrees C, P < 0.01]. The increased skin temperatures in the periphery resulted in increased heat loss. Since peripheral skin temperatures were highest at night, the subjects noted diminished sensations of thermal cold and pain at that time. Manual dexterity at the end of the first cold exposure at night [mean 83.7 (SEM 3.6) times.min-1] had decreased significantly more than at the end of the first cold exposure

Dim light at night (dLAN) disrupts circadian organization and influences adult behavior. We examined early dLAN exposure on adult affective responses. Beginning 3 (juvenile) or 5 weeks (adolescent) of age, mice were maintained in standard light-dark cycles or exposed to nightly dLAN (5 lux) for 5 weeks, then anxiety-like and fear responses were assessed. Hypothalami were collected around the clock to assess core clock genes. Exposure to dLAN at either age increased anxiety-like responses in adults. Clock and Rev-ERB expression were altered by exposure to dLAN. In contrast to adults, dLAN exposure during early life increases anxiety and fear behavior. PMID:27592634

Dim light at night (dLAN) disrupts circadian organization and influences adult behavior. We examined early dLAN exposure on adult affective responses. Beginning 3 (juvenile) or 5 weeks (adolescent) of age, mice were maintained in standard light-dark cycles or exposed to nightly dLAN (5 lx) for 5 weeks, then anxiety-like and fear responses were assessed. Hypothalami were collected around the clock to assess core clock genes. Exposure to dLAN at either age increased anxiety-like responses in adults. Clock and Rev-ERB expression were altered by exposure to dLAN. In contrast to adults, dLAN exposure during early life increases anxiety and fear behavior.

Night vision is ultimately about extracting information from a noisy visual input. Several species of nocturnal insects exhibit complex visually guided behaviour in conditions where most animals are practically blind. The compound eyes of nocturnal insects produce strong responses to single photons and process them into meaningful neural signals, which are amplified by specialized neuroanatomical structures. While a lot is known about the light responses and the anatomical structures that promote pooling of responses to increase sensitivity, there is still a dearth of knowledge on the physiology of night vision. Retinal photoreceptors form the first bottleneck for the transfer of visual information. In this review, we cover the basics of what is known about physiological adaptations of insect photoreceptors for low-light vision. We will also discuss major enigmas of some of the functional properties of nocturnal photoreceptors, and describe recent advances in methodologies that may help to solve them and broaden the field of insect vision research to new model animals. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Vision in dim light’. PMID:28193821

The Altitude Wind Tunnel (AWT) during one of its overnight runs at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio. The AWT was run during night hours so that its massive power loads were handled when regional electric demands were lowest. At the time the AWT was among the most complex wind tunnels ever designed. In order to simulate conditions at high altitudes, NACA engineers designed innovative new systems that required tremendous amounts of electricity. The NACA had an agreement with the local electric company that it would run its larger facilities overnight when local demand was at its lowest. In return the utility discounted its rates for the NACA during those hours. The AWT could produce wind speeds up to 500 miles per hour through its 20-foot-diameter test section at the standard operating altitude of 30,000 feet. The airflow was created by a large fan that was driven by an 18,000-horsepower General Electric induction motor. The altitude simulation was accomplished by large exhauster and refrigeration systems. The cold temperatures were created by 14 Carrier compressors and the thin atmosphere by four 1750-horsepower exhausters. The first and second shifts usually set up and broke down the test articles, while the third shift ran the actual tests. Engineers would often have to work all day, then operate the tunnel overnight, and analyze the data the next day. The night crew usually briefed the dayshift on the tests during morning staff meetings.

ISS038-E-042992 (10 Feb. 2014) --- One of the Expedition 38 crew members aboard the International Space Station downlinked this vertical 600mm night view of Sochi, Russia, which clearly shows the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics while they are just a few days under way. Fisht Stadium where the Opening Ceremonies were held on Feb. 7 is easily recognizable as the bright circular structure. Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the Black Sea coast near the border between Georgia/Abkhazia and Russia. It has an area of 1,353 square miles or 3,505 square kilometers. Photo credit: NASA ISS038-E-042992 (10 Feb. 2014) --- One of the Expedition 38 crew members aboard the International Space Station downlinked this vertical 600mm night view of Sochi, Russia, which clearly shows the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics while they are just a few days under way. Fisht Stadium where the Opening Ceremonies were held on Feb. 7 is easily recognizable as the bright circular structure. Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the Black Sea coast near the border between Georgia/Abkhazia and Russia. It has an area of 1,353 square miles or 3,505 square kilometers. Photo credit: NASA

We are creating a nation-wide, annual public outreach event called "National Observe the Moon Night” (NOMN) that provides opportunities for involving new partners in engaging the public in lunar science and exploration. The 2010 NOMN events will occur at our partner institutions - Ames Research Center (ARC; Moffett Field, CA), Goddard Space Flight Center (GFSC; Greenbelt, MD), Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI; Houston, TX), and Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC; Huntsville, AL). The goal of National Observe the Moon Night is to engage the lunar science and education community, our partner networks, amateur astronomers, space enthusiasts, and the general public in annual lunar observation campaigns that share the excitement of lunar science and exploration. National Observe the Moon Night events will use NASA's "Tweet-ups" model and partners' dissemination networks to promote and recruit participation in the events. All information about NOMN will be supplied on a central website, accessible to the public (http://mymoon.lpi.usra.edu/nationalobservethemoonnight). Members of the public are encouraged to host their own NOMN events, and there will be a place for local astronomy clubs, schools, or other groups to post information about NOMN events they are organizing. To assist with their efforts, the website will contain downloadable documents of templates of advertising fliers, Moon maps, and activities that will be distributed at the national events, such as Moon calendar journals. After the events, participants will be able to continue using the website to follow links for more information about sites indicated on their Moon maps.

Night-shift nurses receive fewer educational opportunities and less administrative support than do day-shift staff, tend to be newer, with less experience and fewer resources, and experience greater turnover rates, stress, and procedural errors. In an attempt to bridge the gap between day- and night-shift nursing, a night-shift clinical nurse specialist (CNS) position was created in a midsized, community teaching hospital. The goal was to provide an advanced practice presence to improve patient outcomes, communication, education, and cost-effectiveness. The night-shift CNS participated in nursing education and skill certifications, communicated new procedures and information, and created a communication committee specifically for night-shift nurses. Through regular rounding and on-call notification, the CNS was available to every area of the hospital for consultation and clinical assistance and assisted with rapid responses, codes, and traumas. Providing education during night shift reduced overtime costs and increased morale, positively affecting turnover rates. The night-shift CNS position has improved morale and equalized support for night-shift nurses. More research, most notably in specific night-shift metrics, is necessary, and with the implementation of the role in additional facilities, more can be understood about improving patient care and nursing staff satisfaction during night shift.

In this article, we review the impact of vision on older people's night driving abilities. Driving is the preferred and primary mode of transport for older people. It is a complex activity where intact vision is seminal for road safety. Night driving requires mesopic rather than scotopic vision, because there is always some light available when driving at night. Scotopic refers to night vision, photopic refers to vision under well-lit conditions, and mesopic vision is a combination of photopic and scotopic vision in low but not quite dark lighting situations. With increasing age, mesopic vision decreases and glare sensitivity increases, even in the absence of ocular diseases. Because of the increasing number of elderly drivers, more drivers are affected by night vision difficulties. Vision tests, which accurately predict night driving ability, are therefore of great interest. We reviewed existing literature on age-related influences on vision and vision tests that correlate or predict night driving ability. We identified several studies that investigated the relationship between vision tests and night driving. These studies found correlations between impaired mesopic vision or increased glare sensitivity and impaired night driving, but no correlation was found among other tests; for example, useful field of view or visual field. The correlation between photopic visual acuity, the most commonly used test when assessing elderly drivers, and night driving ability has not yet been fully clarified. Photopic visual acuity alone is not a good predictor of night driving ability. Mesopic visual acuity and glare sensitivity seem relevant for night driving. Due to the small number of studies evaluating predictors for night driving ability, further research is needed.

To assess performance, alertness, and mood during the night shift and subsequent daytime sleep in relation to the degree of re-alignment (re-entrainment) of circadian rhythms with a night-work, day-sleep schedule. Subjects spent 5 consecutive night shifts (11:00 pm-7:00 am) in the lab and slept at home in darkened bedrooms (8:30 am-3:30 pm). Subjects were categorized by the degree of re-entrainment attained after the 5 night shifts. Completely re-entrained: temperature minimum in the second half of daytime sleep; partially re-entrained: temperature minimum in the first half of daytime sleep; not re-entrained: temperature minimum did not delay enough to reach daytime sleep. See above. Young healthy adults (n = 67) who were not shift workers. Included bright light during the night shifts, sunglasses worn outside, a fixed dark daytime sleep episode, and melatonin. The effects of various combinations of these interventions on circadian re-entrainment were previously reported. Here we report how the degree of re-entrainment affected daytime sleep and measures collected during the night shift. Salivary melatonin was collected every 30 minutes in dim light (<20 lux) before and after the night shifts to determine the dim light melatonin onset, and the temperature minimum was estimated by adding a constant (7 hours) to the dim light melatonin onset. Subjects kept sleep logs, which were verified by actigraphy. The Neurobehavioral Assessment Battery was completed several times during each night shift. Baseline sleep schedules and circadian phase differed among the 3 re-entrainment groups, with later times resulting in more re-entrainment. The Neurobehavioral Assessment Battery showed that performance, sleepiness, and mood were better in the groups that re-entrained compared to the group that did not re-entrain, but there were no significant differences between the partial and complete re-entrainment groups. Subjects slept almost all of the allotted 7 hours during the day, and

Shift work is closely related with workers' health. In particular, sleep is thought to be affected by shift work. In addition, shift work has been reported to be associated with the type or direction of shift rotation, number of consecutive night shifts, and number of off-duty days. We aimed to analyze the association between the night shift rotation interval and the quality of sleep reported by Korean female shift workers. In total, 2,818 female shift workers from the manufacturing industry who received an employee physical examination at a single university hospital from January to August in 2014 were included. Subjects were classified into three groups (A, B, and C) by their night shift rotation interval. The quality of sleep was measured using the Korean version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Descriptive analysis, univariate logistic regression, and multivariate logistic regression were performed. With group A as the reference, the odds ratio (OR) for having a seriously low quality of sleep was 1.456 (95% CI 1.171-1.811) and 2.348 (95% CI 1.852-2.977) for groups B and C, respectively. Thus, group C with the shortest night shift rotation interval was most likely to have a low quality of sleep. After adjustment for age, obesity, smoking status, alcohol consumption, exercise, being allowed to sleep during night shifts, work experience, and shift work experience, groups B and C had ORs of 1.419 (95% CI 1.134-1.777) and 2.238 (95% CI 1.737-2.882), respectively, compared to group A. Our data suggest that a shorter night shift rotation interval does not provide enough recovery time to adjust the circadian rhythm, resulting in a low quality of sleep. Because shift work is influenced by many different factors, future studies should aim to determine the most optimal shift work model and collect accurate, prospective data.

Housing laboratory animals under lighting conditions that more closely mimic the natural environment may improve their wellbeing. This study examined the effects of dim light or a long-night photocycle on resting heart rate (HR) of rats and their HR responses to acute procedures. Male and female Sprague-Dawley (SD) and spontaneously hypertensive (SHR) rats, instrumented with radiotelemetry transmitters and housed individually under a 12:12-h light:dark photocycle with 10 lx illumination (dim light) or under an 8:16-h light:dark photocycle with 200 lx illumination (long nights), were compared with control rats individually housed under a 12:12-h light:dark photocycle with 200 lx illumination. Dim light and long nights significantly reduced the HR of undisturbed SD and SHR male and SHR female rats during the day and at night; however, the HR of undisturbed SD females was not affected. When rats were subjected acutely to husbandry, experimental, or stressful procedures, dim light or long nights (or both) reduced HR responses to some procedures, did not alter responses to others, and increased responses to yet other procedures. The pattern of effects varied between strains and between male and female rats. Because basal HR was reduced when rats were housed under 10 lx illumination or an 8:16-h light:dark photocycle, we concluded that housing rats under 12:12-h light:dark, 200 lx ambient light conditions was potentially stressful, We also concluded that dim light or long nights did not uniformly reduce the increased HR responses induced by acute procedures.

Night-shift work causes mental stress and lifestyle changes, and is recognized as a risk of cardiovascular diseases associated with impaired endothelial function. Aromatherapy is becoming popular as a complementary therapy that is beneficial for mental relaxation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of aromatherapy on the endothelial function of medical staff after night-shift work. This study consisted of 19 healthy medical personnel (19 men, mean age 32 ± 7 years), including 11 physicians and 8 technicians. Aromatherapy was performed for 30 min by inhalation of the essential oil of lavender. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery was measured three times in each subject: on a regular workday, and after night-shift work before and immediately after aromatherapy. A control study was performed to assess the effect of a 30-min rest without aromatherapy. The mean value of sleep time during night-shift work was 3.3 ± 1.3 h. FMD after night-shift work was lower than on a regular workday (10.4 ± 1.8 vs. 12.5 ± 1.7%, P<0.001), which improved after aromatherapy (11.8 ± 2.5%, P=0.02 vs. before aromatherapy). FMD was stable in the control study (10.1 ± 1.9 vs. 10.1 ± 2.2%, P=0.9). This study demonstrated that night-shift work impaired endothelial function in medical staff, an effect that was alleviated by short-term aromatherapy.

Background Nightshift work is associated with cancer among men, but the biological mechanism is unclear. We investigated whether male nightshift workers demonstrated changes in levels of melatonin and cortisol, potential biomarkers of cancer risk. Methods Urine was collected from 185 nightshift and 158 dayshift-working male healthcare providers, aged 22-55, throughout work and sleep periods and assayed for 6-sulfatoxymelatonin and cortisol. Morning serum was collected within 90 minutes of completing the night and assayed for cortisol. Results Nightshift workers had significantly lower 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels during daytime sleep, nighttime work, and nighttime sleep on off-nights (57%, 62% and 40% lower, respectively), relative to the dayshift workers during nighttime sleep (p<0.0001); urinary cortisol in nightshift workers was 16% higher during daytime sleep and 13% lower during nighttime sleep on off-nights (p<0.05). Morning serum cortisol post-work and post-sleep in nightshift workers were 24% and 43% lower, respectively, than post-sleep levels among dayshift workers (p<0.0001). Within-subject comparisons among the nightshift workers revealed significantly lower melatonin levels and significantly higher urinary cortisol levels during daytime sleep and nighttime work, relative to nighttime sleep (p<0.01); morning serum cortisol levels post-work were lower than those post-sleep. Conclusions Nightshift workers have substantially lower 6-sulfatoxymelatonin during night work and daytime sleep, and levels remain low when nightshift workers sleep at night. Chronic reduction in melatonin among nightshift workers may be an important carcinogenic mechanism. Cortisol secretion patterns may be impacted by night shift work, which could affect cancer risk. Impact Shiftwork could be an important risk factor for many types of cancer. PMID:23563887

We previously reported that two intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) isoforms, high molecular mass IAP (HIAP) and normal molecular mass IAP (NIAP), appear in healthy serum with our Triton-PAGE method for determination of ALP isozymes. In addition, HIAP is chiefly present in blood group B or O secretors, and a large amount of NIAP is secreted into the circulation after high-fat meal in blood group B or O secretors. In the present paper, we investigated the relationship between alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in early morning with the patient in a fasted state and the dinner intake of previous night. Two types of dinner were prepared; a low-fat meal (520 kcal), and a high-fat meal (1,040 kcal). Subjects ate the 2 types of dinner on different days. The mean ALP activities at 14 h after high-fat meal ingestion in blood group B or O secretors (n=14) from JSCC and IFCC methods were 8.8% and 5.2% higher than those at 14 h after low-fat meal ingestion in blood group B or O secretors, respectively. The increases in ALP activity between after high-fat meal and low-fat meal were nearly identical to the increases in NIAP activity. These results suggest that a high-fat meal is more likely to affect ALP activity at the early morning with the patient in a fasted state in blood group B or O secretors.

Three newspaper librarians described how they manage the files of newspaper clippings which are a necessary part of their collections. The development of a new subject classification system for the clippings files was outlined. The new subject headings were based on standard subject heading lists and on local need. It was decided to use a computer…

Aircrew viewing eyepiece-injected symbology on color display night vision goggles (CDNVGs) are performing a visual task involving color under highly unnatural viewing conditions. Their performance in discriminating different colors and responding to color cues is unknown. Experimental laboratory measurements of 1) color discrimination and 2) visual search performance are reported under adaptation conditions representative of a CDNVG. Color discrimination was measured using a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) paradigm that probes color space uniformly around a white point. Search times in the presence of different degrees of clutter (distractors in the scene) are measured for different potential symbology colors. The discrimination data support previous data suggesting that discrimination is best for colors close to the adapting point in color space (P43 phosphor in this case). There were highly significant effects of background adaptation (white or green) and test color. The search time data show that saturated colors with the greatest chromatic contrast with respect to the background lead to the shortest search times, associated with the greatest saliency. Search times for the green background were around 150 ms longer than for the white. Desaturated colors, along with those close to a typical CDNVG display phosphor in color space, should be avoided by CDNVG designers if the greatest conspicuity of symbology is desired. The results can be used by CDNVG symbology designers to optimize aircrew performance subject to wider constraints arising from the way color is used in the existing conventional cockpit instruments and displays.Liggins EP, Serle WP. Color vision in color display night vision goggles. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2017; 88(5):448-456.

This study explores the quality of student-teachers' (STs') verbal communication during their teaching practice on the "Studies for the Environment" subject, and identifies potential factors affecting it. Forty-one teaching sessions were analysed revealing that STs dominate classroom talking by having almost an equal number of utterances…

The goal of the present study is to examine the stability of time attitudes profiles across a one-year period as well as the association between time attitudes profiles and several variables. These variables include attitudes towards alcohol, context of alcohol use, consumption of a full drink, and subjective life expectancy. We assessed the…

Mission Management Department of the Royal Aerospace Establishment has won a Queen's Award for Technology, jointly with GEC Sensors, in recognition of innovation and success in the development and application of night vision technology for fixed wing aircraft. This work has been carried out to satisfy the operational needs of the Royal Air Force. These are seen to be: - Operations in the NATO Central Region - To have a night as well as a day capability - To carry out low level, high speed penetration - To attack battlefield targets, especially groups of tanks - To meet these objectives at minimum cost The most effective way to penetrate enemy defences is at low level and survivability would be greatly enhanced with a first pass attack. It is therefore most important that not only must the pilot be able to fly at low level to the target but also he must be able to detect it in sufficient time to complete a successful attack. An analysis of the average operating conditions in Central Europe during winter clearly shows that high speed low level attacks can only be made for about 20 per cent of the 24 hours. Extending this into good night conditions raises the figure to 60 per cent. Whilst it is true that this is for winter conditions and in summer the situation is better, the overall advantage to be gained is clear. If our aircraft do not have this capability the potential for the enemy to advance his troops and armour without hinderance for considerable periods is all too obvious. There are several solutions to providing such a capability. The one chosen for Tornado GR1 is to use Terrain Following Radar (TFR). This system is a complete 24 hour capability. However it has two main disadvantages, it is an active system which means it can be jammed or homed into, and is useful in attacking pre-planned targets. Second it is an expensive system which precludes fitting to other than a small number of aircraft.

NASA acquired July 15, 2012 On July 15, 2012, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this nighttime view of the aurora australis, or “southern lights,” over Antartica’s Queen Maud Land and the Princess Ragnhild Coast. The image was captured by the VIIRS “day-night band,” which detects light in a range of wavelengths from green to near-infrared and uses filtering techniques to observe signals such as city lights, auroras, wildfires, and reflected moonlight. In the case of the image above, the sensor detected the visible auroral light emissions as energetic particles rained down from Earth’s magnetosphere and into the gases of the upper atmosphere. The slightly jagged appearance of the auroral lines is a function of the rapid dance of the energetic particles at the same time that the satellite is moving and the VIIRS sensor is scanning. The yellow box in the top image depicts the area shown in the lower close-up image. Light from the aurora was bright enough to illuminate the ice edge between the ice shelf and the Southern Ocean. At the time, Antarctica was locked in midwinter darkness and the Moon was a waning crescent that provided little light. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using VIIRS Day-Night Band data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership. Suomi NPP is the result of a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Defense. Caption by Mike Carlowicz. Instrument: Suomi NPP - VIIRS Credit: NASA Earth Observatory Click here to view all of the Earth at Night 2012 images Click here to read more about this image NASA image use policy. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to

The image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top.

Infrared image interpretation

Daytime: Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark.

Nighttime: Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the

The image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top.

Infrared image interpretation

Daytime: Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark.

Nighttime: Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through

Released 25 June 2004 This pair of images shows part of Noctus Labyrinthus.

Day/Night Infrared Pairs

The image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top.

Infrared image interpretation

Daytime: Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark.

Nighttime: Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released

The image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top.

Infrared image interpretation

Daytime: Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark.

Nighttime: Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the

Released 24 June 2004 This pair of images shows a crater and its ejecta.

Day/Night Infrared Pairs

The image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top.

Infrared image interpretation

Daytime: Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark.

Nighttime: Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through

The image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top.

Infrared image interpretation

Daytime: Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark.

Nighttime: Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through

Released 14 June 2004 This pair of images shows crater ejecta in the Terra Meridiani region.

Day/Night Infrared Pairs

The image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top.

Infrared image interpretation

Daytime: Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark.

Nighttime: Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will

Released 11 June 2004 This pair of images shows part of the Terra Meridiani region.

Day/Night Infrared Pairs

The image pairs presented focus on a single surface feature as seen in both the daytime and nighttime by the infrared THEMIS camera. The nighttime image (right) has been rotated 180 degrees to place north at the top.

Infrared image interpretation

Daytime: Infrared images taken during the daytime exhibit both the morphological and thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. Morphologic details are visible due to the effect of sun-facing slopes receiving more energy than antisun-facing slopes. This creates a warm (bright) slope and cool (dark) slope appearance that mimics the light and shadows of a visible wavelength image. Thermophysical properties are seen in that dust heats up more quickly than rocks. Thus dusty areas are bright and rocky areas are dark.

Nighttime: Infrared images taken during the nighttime exhibit only the thermophysical properties of the surface of Mars. The effect of sun-facing versus non-sun-facing energy dissipates quickly at night. Thermophysical effects dominate as different surfaces cool at different rates through the nighttime hours. Rocks cool slowly, and are therefore relatively bright at night (remember that rocks are dark during the day). Dust and other fine grained materials cool very quickly and are dark in nighttime infrared images.

Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released

Subjective sleepiness at different times is often measured in studies on sleep loss, night work, or drug effects. However, the context at the time of rating may influence results. The present study examined sleepiness throughout the day at hourly intervals and during controlled activities [reading, writing, walking, social interaction (discussion), etc.] by 10-min. intervals for 3 hr. This was done on a normal working day preceded by a scheduled early rising (to invite sleepiness) for six subjects. Analysis showed a significant U-shaped pattern across the day with peaks in the early morning and late evening. A walk and social interaction were associated with low sleepiness, compared to sedentary and quiet office work. None of this was visible in the hourly ratings. There was also a pronounced afternoon increase in sleepiness, that was not observable with hourly ratings. It was concluded that there are large variations in sleepiness related to time of day and also to context and that sparse sampling of subjective sleepiness may miss much of this variation.

... COMPENSATION FOR OVERTIME SERVICES § 9.5 Night, Sunday, and holiday defined. (a) For the purpose of this part the word night shall mean the time between 5 p.m. of any day and 8 a.m. of the following day. (b) The... 46 Shipping 1 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Night, Sunday, and holiday defined. 9.5 Section 9.5...

... COMPENSATION FOR OVERTIME SERVICES § 9.5 Night, Sunday, and holiday defined. (a) For the purpose of this part the word night shall mean the time between 5 p.m. of any day and 8 a.m. of the following day. (b) The... 46 Shipping 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Night, Sunday, and holiday defined. 9.5 Section 9.5...

... COMPENSATION FOR OVERTIME SERVICES § 9.5 Night, Sunday, and holiday defined. (a) For the purpose of this part the word night shall mean the time between 5 p.m. of any day and 8 a.m. of the following day. (b) The... 46 Shipping 1 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Night, Sunday, and holiday defined. 9.5 Section 9.5...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of five nights' sleep under normobaric hypoxia on ventilatory acclimatization and sleep quality. Seven men initially slept for six nights under normoxia and then for five nights under normobaric hypoxia equivalent to a 2000-m altitude. Nocturnal polysomnograms (PSGs), arterial blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), and respiratory events were recorded on the first and fifth nights under both conditions. The hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR), hypercapnic ventilatory response (HCVR), and resting end-tidal CO2 (resting PETCO2) were measured three times during the experimental period. The duration of slow-wave sleep (SWS: stage N3) and the whole-night delta (1-3 Hz) power of nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep EEG decreased on the first night under hypoxia. This hypoxia-induced sleep quality deterioration on the first night was accompanied by a lower mean and minimum SpO2, a longer time spent with SpO2 below 90% (<90% SpO2 time), and more episodes of respiratory disturbance. On the fifth night, the SWS duration and whole-night delta power did not differ between the conditions. Although the mean SpO2 under hypoxia was still lower than under normoxia, the minimum SpO2 increased, and the <90% SpO2 time and number of episodes of respiratory disturbance decreased during the five nights under hypoxia. The HVR increased and resting PETCO2 decreased after five nights under hypoxia. The results suggest that five nights under hypoxia improves the sleep quality. This may be derived from improvements of respiratory disturbances, the minimum SpO2, and <90% SpO2 time.

... COMPENSATION FOR OVERTIME SERVICES § 9.5 Night, Sunday, and holiday defined. (a) For the purpose of this part the word night shall mean the time between 5 p.m. of any day and 8 a.m. of the following day. (b) The... 46 Shipping 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Night, Sunday, and holiday defined. 9.5 Section 9.5...

Objective To propose criteria for diagnosis of the night eating syndrome (NES). Method An international research meeting was held in April 2008, and consensus criteria for NES diagnosis were determined. Results The core criterion is an abnormally increased food intake in the evening and nighttime, manifested by (1) consumption of at least 25% of intake after the evening meal, and/or (2) nocturnal awakenings with ingestions at least twice per week. Awareness of the eating episodes is required, as is distress or impairment in functioning. Three of five modifiers must also be endorsed. These criteria must be met for a minimum duration of 3 months. Discussion These criteria help standardize the definition of NES. Additional aspects of the nosology of NES yet to be fully elaborated include its relationship to other eating and sleep disorders. Assessment and analytic tools are needed to assess these new criteria more accurately. PMID:19378289

Night vision goggles (NVG's) have widespread use in military and civilian environments. NVG's amplify ambient illumination making performance possible when there is insufficient illumination for normal vision. While visual performance through NVG's is commonly assessed by measuring threshold functions such as visual acuity, few attempts have been made to assess vision through NVG's at suprathreshold levels of stimulation. Such information would be useful to better understand vision through NVG's across a range of stimulus conditions. In this study visual evoked potentials (VEP's) were used to evaluate vision through NVG's across a range of stimulus contrasts. The amplitude and latency of the VEP varied linearly with log contrast. A comparison of VEP's recorded with and without NVG's was used to estimate contrast attenuation through the device. VEP's offer an objective, electrophysiological tool to assess visual performance through NVG's at both threshold and suprathreshold levels of visual stimulation.

Girls Night In was held at Goddard on Nov 4-5, 2016. This is a pilot program which reinvigorates, inspires, and engages high school girls who may be struggling or not fully engaged in STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Math) education. The program allowed NASA women to share and demonstrate the work they do, provide the girls an opportunity to completely immerse themselves in Goddard science, technology, engineering and math as well as provide them activities that will challenge and promote knowledge and discovery. Goddard invites other NASA centers tolearn from this pilot program and work towards a simultaneous multicenter event in the future. Participating schools were: DuVal, Crossland, Flowers, High Point, Northwestern and Oxon Hill

Girls Night In was held at Goddard on Nov 4-5, 2016. This is a pilot program which reinvigorates, inspires, and engages high school girls who may be struggling or not fully engaged in STEM (Science, Technology Engineering and Math) education. The program allowed NASA women to share and demonstrate the work they do, provide the girls an opportunity to completely immerse themselves in Goddard science, technology, engineering and math as well as provide them activities that will challenge and promote knowledge and discovery. Goddard invites other NASA centers tolearn from this pilot program and work towards a simultaneous multicenter event in the future. Participating schools were: DuVal, Crossland, Flowers, High Point, Northwestern and Oxon Hill

Satellite measurements from the Aura MLS instrument show a layer of OH near 82 km in the night. This layer confirms earlier measurements by ground-based LIDAR. The MLS and LIDAR observations measure OH in the lowest vibrational state and are distinct, but related chemically, from vibrationally-excited emission from the OH Meinel bands in the near infrared. The Caltech 1-D model has been extended to include vibrational dependence of OH reactions and shows good agreement with MLS OH data and with observations of the Meinel bands. The model shows a chemical lifetime of HO(x) that increases from less than a day at 80 km to over a month at 87 km. Above this altitude transport processes become an important part of HOx chemistry. The model predicts that ground state OH represents 99% of the total OH up to 84 km.

A young visitor to the Powerhouse Community Arts and Cultural Center in Oxford, Miss., enjoys a balloon rocket transportation activity during a NASA Night in the Neighborhood on March 29. NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis visited the center with a variety of space-related displays and educational activities. Events targeted for children included moon phasers and build-your-own rocket transportation exercises, as well as an astronaut ice cream tasting station. Visitors also were able to take photos in the astronaut suit display. Displays focused on the 40th anniversaries of the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 lunar missions, the International Space Station, and various aspects of Stennis work. The event was sponsored by the NASA Office of External Affairs and Education at Stennis.

A good night's sleep is essential to overall physical, cognitive, and emotional well-being. Sleep deprivation, whether general or related to time changes (e.g., daylight saving time), contributes to decreased cognition, impaired memory, poor coordination, mood fluctuations, increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, and weight gain, among others. The sleep cycle is defined by five stages and two distinct parts-rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep-that work to promote not only the quantity of sleep but also the quality of sleep, which impacts overall health. Each stage of sleep is influenced by various neurochemical actions among the brain regions. The neurochemistry and neuropath-ways related to the sleep/wake cycle as well as the mechanisms of action of sleep-inducing and wake-promoting medications are explored. [Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 55(10), 19-26.]. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

Decreased melatonin production, due to nighttime exposure to light, has been proposed as one of the physiological mechanisms increasing cancer risk in night workers. However, few studies measured melatonin production in night workers, and most of these studies did not measure melatonin over 24 h. One study compared total melatonin production between day and night shifts in rotating night workers and did not find significant differences. However, without baseline measures, it was not possible to exclude that melatonin production was reduced during both day and night work. Here, we used data collected in a simulation study of night work to determine the effect of night work on both nighttime and 24-h melatonin production, during three consecutive days of simulated night work. Thirty-eight healthy subjects (15 men, 23 women; 26.6 ± 4.2 years) participated in a 6-d laboratory study. Circadian phase assessments were made with salivary dim light melatonin onset (DLMO) on the first and last days. Simulated day work (09:00-17:00 h) occurred on the second day, followed by three consecutive days of simulated night work (00:00-08:00 h). Light intensity at eye level was set at 50 lux during both simulated day and night work. The subjects were divided into three matched groups exposed to specific daytime light profiles that produced various degrees of circadian phase delays and phase advances. Melatonin production was estimated with the excretion of urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (aMT6s). For the entire protocol, urine was collected every 2 h, except for the sleep episodes when the interval was 8 h. The aMT6s concentration in each sample was multiplied by the urine volume and then added to obtain total aMT6s excretion during nighttime (00:00-08:00 h) and during each 24-h day (00:00-00:00 h). The results showed that melatonin production progressively decreased over consecutive days of simulated night work, both during nighttime and over the 24 h. This

This study examined whether anesthesia residents (physicians in training) performed clinical duties in the operating room differently during the day versus at night. Fatigue from sleep deprivation and working through the night is common for physicians, particularly during residency training. Using a repeated-measures design, we studied 13 pairs of day-night matched anesthesia cases. Dependent measures included task times, workload ratings, response to an alarm light latency task, and mood. Residents spent significantly less time on manual tasks and more time on monitoring tasks during the maintenance phase at night than during the day. Residents reported more negative mood at night than during the day, both pre- and postoperation. However, time of day had no effect on the mood change between pre- and postoperation. Workload ratings and the response time to an alarm light latency task were not significantly different between night and day cases. Because night shift residents had been awake and working for more than 16 hr, the observed differences in task performance and mood may be attributed to fatigue. The changes in task distribution during night shift work may represent compensatory strategies to maintain patient care quality while keeping perceived workload at a manageable level. Fatigue effects during night shifts should be considered when designing work-rest schedules for clinicians. This matched-case control scheme can also be applied to study other phenomena associated with patient safety in the actual clinical environment.

In this study, we use magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) at 3 Tesla to measure N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), myo-inositol (mI) and choline (Cho) to creatine (Cr) ratios in R (right) and L (left) hippocampi (H) in 8 mildly memory impaired (MMI), 6 probable Alzheimer's Disease (PRAD), and 17 control subjects. NAA/Cr was significantly reduced in the RH in the MMI group and bilaterally in the PRAD group vs. controls. No other metabolite differences were noted between the three groups. Five MMI subjects have converted to PRAD in follow-up. These findings suggest that RH NAA/Cr ratios measured at 3 Tesla may be a sensitive marker of future progression to dementia in a clinically defined population with isolated memory complaints.

We report three unrelated patients with mutations in the GRM6 gene that normally encodes the glutamate receptor mGluR6. This neurotransmitter receptor has been shown previously to be present only in the synapses of the ON bipolar cell dendrites, and it mediates synaptic transmission from rod and cone photoreceptors to this type of second-order neuron. Despite the synaptic defect, best visual acuities were normal or only moderately reduced (20/15 to 20/40). The patients were night blind from an early age, and when maximally dark-adapted, they could perceive lights only with an intensity equal to or slightly dimmer than that normally detected by the cone system (i.e., 2-3 log units above normal). Electroretinograms (ERGs) in response to single brief flashes of light had clearly detectable a-waves, which are derived from photoreceptors, and greatly reduced b-waves, which are derived from the second-order inner retinal neurons. ERGs in response to sawtooth flickering light indicated a markedly reduced ON response and a nearly normal OFF response. There was no subjective delay in the perception of suddenly appearing white vs. black objects on a gray background. These patients exemplify a previously unrecognized, autosomal recessive form of congenital night blindness associated with a negative ERG waveform. PMID:15781871

Astroglia play multiple roles in brain function by providing matrix to neurons, secreting neurotrophic factors, maintaining K(+) and glutamate homeostasis and thereby controlling synaptic plasticity which undergoes alterations during aging. K(+) and glutamate homeostasis is maintained by astrocytes membrane bound inwardly rectifying K(+) channel (Kir4.1) and glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1 or EAAT-2) proteins, respectively in the synapse and their expression may be altered due to traumatic brain injury (TBI). Also, it is not well understood whether this change is age dependent. To find out this, TBI was experimentally induced in adult and old male AKR strain mice using CHI technique, and expression of the Kir4.1 and GLT-1 in the pericontusional cortex at various time intervals was studied by Western blotting and semi quantitative RT-PCR techniques. Here, we report that expression of both Kir4.1 and GLT-1 genes at transcript and protein levels is significantly down regulated in the pericontusional ipsi-lateral cortex of old TBI mice as compared to that in the adult TBI mice as function of time after injury. Further, expression of both the genes starts decreasing early in old mice i.e., from the first hour after TBI as compared to that starts from fourth hour in adult TBI mice. Thus TBI affects expression of Kir4.1 and GLT-1 genes in age- and time dependent manner and it may lead to accumulations of more K(+) and glutamate early in the synapse of old mice as compared to adult. This may be implicated in the TBI induced early and severe neuronal depolarization and excito-neurotoxicity in old age.

Ghost crabs, Ocypode cordimanus, inhabit relatively hostile environments subject to thermal fluctuations, including both diurnal and seasonal cycles. For many ectotherms, including ghost crabs, a major challenge is to remain cool during hot daytime temperatures. This can be achieved by adopting a fossorial lifestyle, taking advantage of thermal refuge afforded by burrows of sufficient depth. Another consideration, often overlooked, is the potential advantage associated with ready access to a thermal energy source (a "charging station") when surface temperatures are cooler. Being able to rapidly elevate body temperature during cool periods would enhance the crab's ability to maintain rate processes and carry out essential activities. We have measured ghost crab burrow temperature profiles at two times of the day with contrasting sun exposure (06:00 and 14:00), demonstrating how effective burrow depth (up to a maximum of 40 cm) provides thermal regulation below the surface of the sand (e.g., at dawn (06:00) and early afternoon (14:00) at a depth of 5 cm, temperatures (±SD) of 16.32 ± 0.96 °C and 25.04 ± 1.47 °C were recorded, respectively. Corresponding temperatures at a depth of 30 cm were 19.17 ± 0.59 °C and 19.78 ± 1.60 °C, respectively). This demonstrates that while temperature conditions at the surface vary dramatically from night to day, ghost crab burrows can maintain relatively constant temperatures at the burrow base throughout the diurnal cycle, at least during winter. As a consequence, the burrow heat signatures undergo a corresponding thermal gradient reversal between night and day, as revealed by infra-red photography. Complementing these field observations, we also determined heating and cooling times/constants for O. cordimanus in the laboratory (τ = 17.54 and 16.59 JK-1, respectively), and analysed chemical composition of their carapace (external (with β Chitin evident) and internal (predominance of α Chitin)), which is the primary thermal

Light at Night Markup Language (LANML) is a standard, based upon XML, useful in acquiring, validating, transporting, archiving and analyzing multi-dimensional light at night (LAN) datasets of any size. The LANML standard can accommodate a variety of measurement scenarios including single spot measures, static time-series, web based monitoring networks, mobile measurements, and airborne measurements. LANML is human-readable, machine-readable, and does not require a dedicated parser. In addition LANML is flexible; ensuring future extensions of the format will remain backward compatible with analysis software. The XML technology is at the heart of communicating over the internet and can be equally useful at the desktop level, making this standard particularly attractive for web based applications, educational outreach and efficient collaboration between research groups.

The goal of this study is to examine the effects of aromatherapy massage on sleep quality of nurses with monthly rotating night shifts. Subjects were enrolled at a medical center in central Taiwan with overall score ≥ 5 of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and randomly assigned to the treatment or control groups. They were validated by pretests during their first graveyard shift in the trial period and the sleep quality information was collected by using the PSQI and sleep detectors. During the second graveyard shift, the treatment group received aromatherapy massage and the control group rested in the same aromatherapy room after work. All subjects filled out the PSQI surveys and the sleep quality information was collected during massage or resting and the following night. We found that the total PSQI was significantly decreased in the treatment group following the aromatherapy massage. Specifically, the components such as subjective sleep quality, sleep disturbance, and daytime dysfunction were significantly decreased. However, there were no significant changes of average PSQI scores between the two groups before and after intervention. Taken together, our study suggested that aromatherapy massage could improve sleep quality of nurses with monthly rotating night shift. PMID:28761497

The goal of this study is to examine the effects of aromatherapy massage on sleep quality of nurses with monthly rotating night shifts. Subjects were enrolled at a medical center in central Taiwan with overall score ≥ 5 of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and randomly assigned to the treatment or control groups. They were validated by pretests during their first graveyard shift in the trial period and the sleep quality information was collected by using the PSQI and sleep detectors. During the second graveyard shift, the treatment group received aromatherapy massage and the control group rested in the same aromatherapy room after work. All subjects filled out the PSQI surveys and the sleep quality information was collected during massage or resting and the following night. We found that the total PSQI was significantly decreased in the treatment group following the aromatherapy massage. Specifically, the components such as subjective sleep quality, sleep disturbance, and daytime dysfunction were significantly decreased. However, there were no significant changes of average PSQI scores between the two groups before and after intervention. Taken together, our study suggested that aromatherapy massage could improve sleep quality of nurses with monthly rotating night shift.

To investigate the effects of one night's sleep deprivation on neurobehavioral functioning in adolescents. Participants completed a neurobehavioral test battery measuring sustained attention, reaction speed, cognitive processing speed, sleepiness, and fatigue every 2 h during wakefulness. Baseline performance (defined as those test bouts between 09:00 and 19:00 on days 2 and 3, following two 10-h sleep opportunities) were compared to performance at the same clock time the day following total sleep deprivation. The sleep laboratory at the Centre for Sleep Research. Twelve healthy adolescents (6 male), aged 14-18 years (mean = 16.17, standard deviation = 0.83). Sustained attention, reaction speed, cognitive processing speed, and subjective sleepiness were all significantly worse following one night without sleep than following 10-h sleep opportunities (all main effects of day, P < 0.05). Sleep deprivation led to increased variability on objective performance measures. There were between-subjects differences in response to sleep loss that were task-specific, suggesting that adolescents may not only vary in terms of the degree to which they are affected by sleep loss but also the domains in which they are affected. These findings suggest that one night of total sleep deprivation has significant deleterious effects upon neurobehavioral performance and subjective sleepiness. These factors impair daytime functioning in adolescents, leaving them at greater risk of poor academic and social functioning and accidents and injuries.

Night shift work has well-known adverse effects on health. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between thyroid diseases and night shift work. This study aimed to examine night shift workers and their changes in thyroid stimulating hormones (TSH) levels over time. Medical check-up data (2011-2015) were obtained from 967 female workers at a university hospital in Incheon, Korea. Data regarding TSH levels were extracted from the records, and 2015 was used as a reference point to determine night shift work status. The relationships between TSH levels and night shift work in each year were analyzed using the general linear model (GLM). The generalized estimating equation (GEE) was used to evaluate the repeated measurements over the 5-year period. The GEE analysis revealed that from 2011 to 2015, night shift workers had TSH levels that were 0.303 mIU/L higher than the levels of non-night shift workers (95 % CI: 0.087-0.519 mIU/L, p = 0.006) after adjusting for age and department. When we used TSH levels of 4.5 ≥ mIU/L to identify subclinical hypothyroidism, night shift workers exhibited a 1.399 fold higher risk of subclinical hypothyroidism (95 % CI: 1.050-1.863, p = 0.022), compared to their non-night shift counterparts. This result of this study suggests that night shift workers may have an increased risk of thyroid diseases, compared to non-night shift workers.

Summary Night shift work suppresses melatonin production and has been associated with an increased risk of major diseases including hormonally related tumors. Experimental evidence suggests that light at night acts through endocrine disruption, likely mediated by melatonin. To date, no observational study has addressed the effect of night work on osteoporotic fractures, another condition highly sensitive to sex steroid exposure. Our study, to our knowledge the first to address this question, supports the hypothesis that night shift work may negatively affect bone health, adding to the growing list of ailments that have been associated with shift work. Introduction We evaluated the association between night shift work and fractures at the hip and wrist in postmenopausal nurses. Methods The study population was drawn from Nurses’ Health Study participants who were working full or part time in nursing in 1988 and had reported their total number of years of rotating night shift work. Through 2000, 1,223 incident wrist and hip fractures involving low or moderate trauma were identified among 38,062 postmenopausal women. We calculated multivariate relative risks (RR) of fracture over varying lengths of follow-up in relation to years of night shift work. Results Compared with women who never worked night shifts, 20+ years of night shift work was associated with a significantly increased risk of wrist and hip fractures over eight years of follow-up (RR = 1.37, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04–1.80). This risk was strongest among women with a lower BMI (<24) who never used hormone replacement therapy (RR = 2.36; 95% CI, 1.33–4.20). The elevated risk was no longer apparent with twelve years of follow-up after the baseline single assessment of night shift work. Conclusions Long durations of rotating night shift work may contribute to risk of hip and wrist fractures, although the potential for unexplained confounding cannot be ruled out. PMID:18766292

Subjective visual vertical (SVV) judgment and standing stability were separately investigated among patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Although, one study has investigated the central mechanism of stability control in the AIS population, the relationships between SVV, decreased standing stability, and AIS have never been investigated. Through event-related potentials (ERPs), the present study examined the effect of postural control demands (PDs) on AIS central mechanisms related to SVV judgment and standing stability to elucidate the time-serial stability control process. Thirteen AIS subjects (AIS group) and 13 age-matched adolescents (control group) aged 12-18 years were recruited. Each subject had to complete an SVV task (i.e., the modified rod-and-frame [mRAF] test) as a stimulus, with online electroencephalogram recording being performed in the following three standing postures: feet shoulder-width apart standing, feet together standing, and tandem standing. The behavioral performance in terms of postural stability (center of pressure excursion), SVV (accuracy and reaction time), and mRAF-locked ERPs (mean amplitude and peak latency of the P1, N1, and P2 components) was then compared between the AIS and control groups. In the behavioral domain, the results revealed that only the AIS group demonstrated a significantly accelerated SVV reaction time as the PDs increased. In the cerebral domain, significantly larger P2 mean amplitudes were observed during both feet shoulder-width-apart standing and feet together standing postures compared with during tandem standing. No group differences were noted in the cerebral domain. The results indicated that (1) during the dual-task paradigm, a differential behavioral strategy of accelerated SVV reaction time was observed in the AIS group only when the PDs increased and (2) the decrease in P2 mean amplitudes with the increase in the PD levels might be direct evidence of the competition for central

Subjective visual vertical (SVV) judgment and standing stability were separately investigated among patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Although, one study has investigated the central mechanism of stability control in the AIS population, the relationships between SVV, decreased standing stability, and AIS have never been investigated. Through event-related potentials (ERPs), the present study examined the effect of postural control demands (PDs) on AIS central mechanisms related to SVV judgment and standing stability to elucidate the time-serial stability control process. Thirteen AIS subjects (AIS group) and 13 age-matched adolescents (control group) aged 12–18 years were recruited. Each subject had to complete an SVV task (i.e., the modified rod-and-frame [mRAF] test) as a stimulus, with online electroencephalogram recording being performed in the following three standing postures: feet shoulder-width apart standing, feet together standing, and tandem standing. The behavioral performance in terms of postural stability (center of pressure excursion), SVV (accuracy and reaction time), and mRAF-locked ERPs (mean amplitude and peak latency of the P1, N1, and P2 components) was then compared between the AIS and control groups. In the behavioral domain, the results revealed that only the AIS group demonstrated a significantly accelerated SVV reaction time as the PDs increased. In the cerebral domain, significantly larger P2 mean amplitudes were observed during both feet shoulder-width-apart standing and feet together standing postures compared with during tandem standing. No group differences were noted in the cerebral domain. The results indicated that (1) during the dual-task paradigm, a differential behavioral strategy of accelerated SVV reaction time was observed in the AIS group only when the PDs increased and (2) the decrease in P2 mean amplitudes with the increase in the PD levels might be direct evidence of the competition for central

The aim of the present combined field and laboratory study was to assess circadian entrainment in two groups of police officers working seven consecutive 8/8.5-h night shifts as part of a rotating schedule. Eight full-time police officers on patrol (mean age ± SD: 29.8 ± 6.5 yrs) were provided an intervention consisting of intermittent exposure to wide-spectrum bright light at night, orange-tinted goggles at sunrise, and maintenance of a regular sleep/darkness episode in the day. Orange-tinted goggles have been shown to block the melatonin-suppressing effect of light significantly more than neutral gray density goggles. Nine control group police officers (mean age ± SD: 30.3 ± 4.1 yrs) working the same schedule were enrolled. Police officers were studied before, after (in the laboratory), and during (ambulatory) a series of seven consecutive nights. Urine samples were collected at wake time and bedtime throughout the week of night work and during laboratory visits (1 × /3 h) preceding and following the work week to measure urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (UaMT6s) excretion rate. Subjective alertness was assessed at the start, middle, and end of night shifts. A 10-min psychomotor vigilance task was performed at the start and end of each shift. Both laboratory visits consisted of two 8-h sleep episodes based on the prior schedule. Saliva samples were collected 2 × /h during waking episodes to assay their melatonin content. Subjective alertness (3 × /h) and performance (1 × /2 h) were assessed during wake periods in the laboratory. A mixed linear model was used to analyze the progression of UaMt6s excreted during daytime sleep episodes at home, as well as psychomotor performance and subjective alertness during night shifts. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) (factors: laboratory visit and group) were used to compare peak salivary melatonin and UaMT6s excretion rate in the laboratory. In both groups of police officers, the excretion rate of UaMT6s at home was

Small, self-contained electromyographic (EMG) detector/analyzer (D/A) devices have become available for the detection of jaw muscle activity events above threshold. These devices claim to be less intrusive to the subjects sleep so it is less prone to induce disturbed sleep. The objective of this study was to evaluate for night-to-night variability and examine for a systematic alteration on the first night in EMG levels. Ten asymptomatic healthy volunteers (mean age, 26.8 ± 3.78) were recorded for six sequential nights in their home environment using EMG D/A system. The device yields a nightly EMG level above threshold score on a 0-4 level. Because the data are categorical and nonparametric, the data of the ten subjects across six nights were submitted to a Friedman repeated measures ANOVA. The significant level was set as alpha equal to 0.05. The median and mode values of the subjects were tabulated and analyzed and we did not find a significant difference in EMG D/A level across the six nights (p = 0.287, Kendall's coefficient of concordance = 0.124, Friedman two-way repeated measures ANOVA). The data did show clear and substantial night-to-night variability. Substantial night-to-night variability in masseter EMG activity levels was clearly observed in our subjects. There was no evidence of a suppressed or elevated first-night effect-like variability on masseter muscle EMG level seen in these subjects using a small portable self-contained EMG detector/analyzer. These data suggest that recordings should be at least 5-6-nights duration to establish a reasonable measure of an individual's average nightly masseter EMG level.

Pedestrian behavior recognition is important work for early accident prevention in advanced driver assistance system (ADAS). In particular, because most pedestrian-vehicle crashes are occurred from late of night to early of dawn, our study focus on recognizing unsafe behavior of pedestrians using thermal image captured from moving vehicle at night. For recognizing unsafe behavior, this study uses convolutional neural network (CNN) which shows high quality of recognition performance. However, because traditional CNN requires the very expensive training time and memory, we design the light CNN consisted of two convolutional layers and two subsampling layers for real-time processing of vehicle applications. In addition, we combine light CNN with boosted random forest (Boosted RF) classifier so that the output of CNN is not fully connected with the classifier but randomly connected with Boosted random forest. We named this CNN as randomly connected CNN (RC-CNN). The proposed method was successfully applied to the pedestrian unsafe behavior (PUB) dataset captured from far-infrared camera at night and its behavior recognition accuracy is confirmed to be higher than that of some algorithms related to CNNs, with a shorter processing time.

While "Where the Wild Things Are" may be Maurice Sendak's most popular book, "In the Night Kitchen" is arguably the greater work. Though his journey in "Wild Things" shares many of the elements of Mickey's adventure in "Night Kitchen"--swinging between the protagonist's initiatory verbal assertions and silent, completely pictorial spreads that…

For many individuals, spiritual inspiration, clarity, or epiphany is often preceded by a "dark night of the soul". St. John of the Cross, a Spanish mystic of the 16th century, first described the concept. Today, the phrase "dark night of the soul" is usually associated with the crisis part of the journey to enlightenment. This article defines and…

Family math night can easily be implemented into mathematics methodology courses providing an opportunity for field-based learning. Preservice teachers were asked to develop and implement an inquiry-based activity at a family math night event held at a local school with personnel, elementary children and their parents in attendance. This action…

Hot flashes and night sweats can be a side effect of cancer or its treatment and can occur in both women and men. Learn more about hot flashes and night sweats and ways to treat them in this expert-reviewed summary.

The present study investigated the relationship between gender roles and night-sky watching in a sample of college students (N=161). The Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Noctcaelador Inventory (NI) were used to investigate the differences between gender role groups for night-sky watching. The results supported the hypothesis that androgynous…

The guidelines for night and shift workers recommend that after night work, they should sleep in a dark environment during the daytime. However, staying in a dark environment during the daytime reduces nocturnal melatonin secretion and delays its onset. Daytime bright-light exposure after night work is important for melatonin synthesis the subsequent night and for maintaining the circadian rhythms. However, it is not clear whether daytime sleeping after night work should be in a dim- or a bright-light environment for maintaining melatonin secretion. The aim of this study, therefore, was to evaluate the effect of bright-light exposure during daytime sleeping on nocturnal melatonin secretion after simulated night work. Twelve healthy male subjects, aged 24.8 ± 4.6 (mean ± SD), participated in 3-day sessions under two experimental conditions, bright light or dim light, in a random order. On the first day, the subjects entered the experimental room at 16:00 and saliva samples were collected every hour between 18:00 and 00:00 under dim-light conditions. Between 00:00 and 08:00, they participated in tasks that simulated night work. At 10:00 the next morning, they slept for 6 hours under either a bright-light condition (>3000 lx) or a dim-light condition (<50 lx). In the evening, saliva samples were collected as on the first day. The saliva samples were analyzed for melatonin concentration. Activity and sleep times were recorded by a wrist device worn throughout the experiment. In the statistical analysis, the time courses of melatonin concentration were compared between the two conditions by three-way repeated measurements ANOVA (light condition, day and time of day). The change in dim light melatonin onset (ΔDLMO) between the first and second days, and daytime and nocturnal sleep parameters after the simulated night work were compared between the light conditions using paired t-tests. The ANOVA results indicated a significant interaction (light condition and3

Study Objectives: To investigate the effects of one night's sleep deprivation on neurobehavioral functioning in adolescents. Design: Participants completed a neurobehavioral test battery measuring sustained attention, reaction speed, cognitive processing speed, sleepiness, and fatigue every 2 h during wakefulness. Baseline performance (defined as those test bouts between 09:00 and 19:00 on days 2 and 3, following two 10-h sleep opportunities) were compared to performance at the same clock time the day following total sleep deprivation. Setting: The sleep laboratory at the Centre for Sleep Research. Participants: Twelve healthy adolescents (6 male), aged 14-18 years (mean = 16.17, standard deviation = 0.83). Measurements and Results: Sustained attention, reaction speed, cognitive processing speed, and subjective sleepiness were all significantly worse following one night without sleep than following 10-h sleep opportunities (all main effects of day, P < 0.05). Sleep deprivation led to increased variability on objective performance measures. There were between-subjects differences in response to sleep loss that were task-specific, suggesting that adolescents may not only vary in terms of the degree to which they are affected by sleep loss but also the domains in which they are affected. Conclusions: These findings suggest that one night of total sleep deprivation has significant deleterious effects upon neurobehavioral performance and subjective sleepiness. These factors impair daytime functioning in adolescents, leaving them at greater risk of poor academic and social functioning and accidents and injuries. Citation: Louca M, Short MA. The effect of one night's sleep deprivation on adolescent neurobehavioral performance. SLEEP 2014;37(11):1799-1807. PMID:25364075

Shiftwork has been associated with elevated blood pressure (BP) and decreased heart-rate variability (HRV), factors that may increase the long-term risk of cardiovascular-related mortality and morbidity. This study explored the effect of shiftwork on dynamic changes in autonomic control of HRV (cardiac stress), systolic BP and diastolic BP, i.e., SBP and DBP (vascular stress), and recovery in the same subjects working different shifts. By studying the same subjects, the authors could reduce the effect of possible contribution of between-subject variation from genetic predisposition and environmental factors. The authors recruited 16 young female nurses working rotating shifts--day (08:00-16:00 h), evening (16:00-00:00 h), and night (00:00-08:00 h)--and 6 others working the regular day shift. Each nurse received simultaneous and repeated 48-h ambulatory electrocardiography and BP monitoring during their work day and the following off-duty day. Using a linear mixed-effect model to adjust for day shift, the results of the repeated-measurements and self-comparisons found significant shift differences in vascular stress. While working the night shift, the nurses showed significant increases in vascular stress, with increased SBP of 9.7 mm Hg. The changes of SBP and DBP seemed to peak during waking time at the same time on the day off as they did on the working day. Whereas HRV profiles usually returned to baseline level after each shift, the SBP and DBP of night-shift workers did not completely return to baseline levels the following off-duty day (p < .001). The authors concluded that although the nurses may recover from cardiac stress the first day off following a night shift, they do not completely recover from increases in vascular stress on that day.

Study Objectives: The study examined the relationship between the circadian rhythm of 6-sulphatoxymelatonin (aMT6s) and ocular measures of sleepiness and neurobehavioral performance in shift workers undergoing a simulated night shift. Methods: Twenty-two shift workers (mean age 33.4, SD 11.8 years) were tested at approximately the beginning (20:00) and the end (05:55) of a simulated night shift in the laboratory. At the time point corresponding to the end of the simulated shift, 14 participants were classified as being within range of 6-sulphatoxymelatonin (aMT6s) acrophase— defined as 3 hours before or after aMT6s peak—and 8 were classified as outside aMT6s acrophase range. Participants completed the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) and the auditory psychomotor vigilance task (aPVT). Waking electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded and infrared reflectance oculography was used to collect ocular measures of sleepiness: positive and negative amplitude/velocity ratio (PosAVR, NegAVR), mean blink total duration (BTD), the percentage of eye closure (%TEC), and a composite score of sleepiness levels (Johns Drowsiness Scale; JDS). Results: Participants who were tested within aMT6s acrophase range displayed higher levels of sleepiness on ocular measures (%TEC, BTD, PosAVR, JDS), objective sleepiness (EEG delta power frequency band), subjective ratings of sleepiness, and neurobehavioral performance, compared to those who were outside aMT6s acrophase range. Conclusions: The study demonstrated that objective ocular measures of sleepiness are sensitive to circadian rhythm misalignment in shift workers. Citation: Ftouni S, Sletten TL, Nicholas CL, Kennaway DJ, Lockley SW, Rajaratnam SM. Ocular measures of sleepiness are increased in night shift workers undergoing a simulated night shift near the peak time of the 6-sulfatoxymelatonin rhythm. J Clin Sleep Med 2015;11(10):1131–1141. PMID:26094925

Despite being globally widespread in coastal regions, the impacts of light pollution on intertidal ecosystems has received little attention. Intertidal species exhibit many night-time-dependent ecological strategies, including feeding, reproduction, orientation and predator avoidance, which are likely negatively affected by shifting light regimes, as has been observed in terrestrial and aquatic taxa. Coastal lighting may shape intertidal communities through its influence on the nocturnal foraging activity of dogwhelks (Nucella lapillus), a widespread predatory mollusc that structures biodiversity in temperate rocky shores. In the laboratory, we investigated whether the basal and foraging activity of this predator was affected by exposure to night-time lighting both in the presence and absence of olfactory predator cues (Carcinus maenas, common shore crab). Assessments of dogwhelks' behavioural responses to night-time white LED lighting were performed on individuals that had been acclimated to night-time white LED lighting conditions for 16 days and individuals that had not previously been exposed to artificial light at night. Dogwhelks acclimated to night-time lighting exhibited natural refuge-seeking behaviour less often compared to control animals, but were more likely to respond to and handle prey irrespective of whether olfactory predator cues were present. These responses suggest night-time lighting likely increased the energetic demand of dogwhelks through stress, encouraging foraging whenever food was available, regardless of potential danger. Contrastingly, whelks not acclimated under night-time lighting were more likely to respond to the presence of prey under artificial light at night when olfactory predator cues were present, indicating an opportunistic shift towards the use of visual instead of olfactory cues in risk evaluation. These results demonstrate that artificial night-time lighting influences the behaviour of intertidal fauna such that the

Adverse effects by night-call duty have become an important occupational health issue. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the heart rate variability (HRV) differed during recovery from day work and night-call duty between distinct physician specialities. We studied the impact of a 16-h night-call duty on autonomic balance, measured by HRV, among two physician groups differing with respect to having to deal with life-threatening conditions while on call. Nineteen anaesthesiologists (ANEST) and 16 paediatricians and ear, nose and throat surgeons (PENT) were monitored by ambulatory digital Holter electrocardiogram (ECG). Heart rate variability was analysed between 21:00 and 22:00 after an ordinary workday, on night call and in the evening post-call. Absolute and normalized high-frequency power (HF, HFnu) were the main outcome variables, expressing parasympathetic influence on the heart. ANEST had lower HF power than PENT while on night call and post-daytime work (p < 0.05), but not at post-night call. In the whole group of physicians, HFnu was lower on call and post-daytime work compared with post-night-call duty (p < 0.05). The physiological recovery after night duty seemed sufficient in terms of HRV patterns for HFnu, reflecting autonomic balance and did not differ between specialities. However, the less dynamic HRV after daytime work and during night-call duty in the ANEST group may indicate a higher physiological stress level. These results may contribute to the improvement of night-call schedules within the health care sector.

Oxidative stress is believed to have a role in the development of chronic diseases. It is also known that long-term night and shift work in nurses might be associated with many health-related problems like fatigue, sleep problems, anxiety and difficulties in maintaining regular lifestyles. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the changes of oxidative stress parameters and anxiety indexes of the nurses on day and night shifts. One hundred and twenty nurses in ordinary service and intensive care unit (ICU) were enrolled to the study. Subjects were divided into 2 groups; group 1 (n = 60) consisted of nurses working in a day shift and group 2 (n = 60) as working in the night shift. Further, both groups were divided in to 2 groups again; group la and 2a (both n = 30) who working in the ICU, group 1b and 2b (both n = 30) in the ordinary service. Just before and the end of the shifts, blood samples were obtained to measure total antioxidant status (TAS) and total oxidant status (TOS). Oxidative stress index (OSI) was calculated. Anxiety index were determined at the end of the shift using State-Trait Anxiety Inventory index. Oxidative stress parameters were increased in all nurses at the end of the day and night shifts (p < 0.05). However, both in service and ICU nurses TAS, TOS, and OSI levels were not significantly different at the beginning and the end of the shifts (p > 0.05). Anxiety indexes of each ordinary service and ICU nurses were found to be similar (p > 0.05). Ordinary service and ICU nurses' oxidative stress parameters and anxiety indexes were not different and all nurses suffer the similar effects of the shifts both in day and night.

To investigate the effects of night work and sleep loss on a simulated luggage screening task (SLST) that mimicked the x-ray system used by airport luggage screeners. We developed more than 5,800 unique simulated x-ray images of luggage organized into 31 stimulus sets of 200 bags each. 25% of each set contained either a gun or a knife with low or high target difficulty. The 200-bag stimuli sets were then run on software that simulates an x-ray screening system (SLST). Signal detection analysis was used to obtain measures of hit rate (HR), false alarm rate (FAR), threat detection accuracy (A'), and response bias (B"(D)). Experimental laboratory study 24 healthy nonprofessional volunteers (13 women, mean age +/- SD = 29.9 +/- 6.5 years). Subjects performed the SLST every 2 h during a 5-day period that included a 35 h period of wakefulness that extended to night work and then another day work period after the night without sleep. Threat detection accuracy A' decreased significantly (P < 0.001) while FAR increased significantly (P < 0.001) during night work, while both A' (P = 0.001) and HR decreased (P = 0.008) during day work following sleep loss. There were prominent time-on-task effects on response bias B"(D) (P= 0.002) and response latency (P = 0.004), but accuracy A' was unaffected. Both HR and FAR increased significantly with increasing study duration (both P < 0.001), while response latency decreased significantly (P <0.001). This study provides the first systematic evidence that night work and sleep loss adversely affect the accuracy of detecting complex real world objects among high levels of background clutter. If the results can be replicated in professional screeners and real work environments, fatigue in luggage screening personnel may pose a threat for air traffic safety unless countermeasures for fatigue are deployed.

The story about a properly oriented outdoor globe in the hands and minds of Eratosthenes, Jefferson, Milanković and science educators is presented. Having the same orientation in space as the Earth, the Day Night Year Globe (DING) shows in real time the pattern of illumination of the Earth’s surface and its diurnal and seasonal variations. It is an ideal object for the visualization of knowledge and increase in knowledge about: the form of the Earth, Earth’s rotation, Earth’s revolution around the Sun, the length of seasons, solstices, equinoxes, the longitude problem, the distribution of the Sun’s radiation over the Earth, the impact of this radiation on Earth’s climate, and how to use it efficiently. By attaching a movable vane to the poles, or adding pins around the equator to read time, DING becomes a spherical/globe-shaped sundial. So, the DING is simultaneously useful for teaching physics, geophysics, astronomy, use of solar energy and promoting an inquiry-based learning environment for students and the public.

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this nighttime panorama while looking north across Pakistan’s Indus River valley. The port city of Karachi is the bright cluster of lights facing the Arabian Sea, which appears completely black. City lights and the dark color of dense agriculture closely track with the great curves of the Indus valley. For scale, the distance from Karachi to the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains is 1,160 kilometers (720 miles). This photograph shows one of the few places on Earth where an international boundary can be seen at night. The winding border between Pakistan and India is lit by security lights that have a distinct orange tone. Astronaut photograph ISS045-E-27869 was acquired on September 23, 2015, with a Nikon D4 digital camera using a 28 millimeter lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Johnson Space Center. via NASA Earth Observatory Read more: earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=86725&eocn...

Beneath a bright moon, the landing of Space Shuttle Discovery at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility runway 15 is reflected in the nearby canal. This 47th Shuttle landing at KSC completes the 9- day, 19-hour, 13-minute and 1-second long STS-96 mission. It is the 94th flight in the Space Shuttle program, the 26th for Discovery, the 11th night landing, and the 18th consecutive landing in Florida. Main gear touchdown was at 2:02:43 EDT June 6 , landing on orbit 154 of the mission. Nose gear touchdown was at 2:02:59 a.m. EDT, and the wheels stopped at 2:03:39 a.m. EDT. At the controls were Commander Kent V. Rominger and Pilot Rick D. Husband. Also onboard the orbiter were Mission Specialists Ellen Ochoa (Ph.D.), Tamara E. Jernigan (Ph.D.), Daniel S. Barry (M.D., Ph.D.), Julie Payette and Valery Ivanovich Tokarev. Payette represents the Canadian Space Agency and Tokarev the Russian Space Agency. The crew returned from the second flight to the International Space Station on a logistics and resupply mission.

Bright lights at KSC's Shuttle Landing Facility runway 15 illuminate the landing of Space Shuttle Discovery, which completes the 9-day, 19-hour, 13-minute and 1-second long STS-96 mission. A contrail streams from the wing. Main gear touchdown was at 2:02:43 EDT June 6 , landing on orbit 154 of the mission. Nose gear touchdown was at 2:02:59 a.m. EDT, and the wheels stopped at 2:03:39 a.m. EDT. At the controls were Commander Kent V. Rominger and Pilot Rick D. Husband. Also onboard the orbiter were Mission Specialists Ellen Ochoa (Ph.D.), Tamara E. Jernigan (Ph.D.), Daniel S. Barry (M.D., Ph.D.), Julie Payette and Valery Ivanovich Tokarev. Payette represents the Canadian Space Agency and Tokarev the Russian Space Agency. The crew returned from the second flight to the International Space Station on a logistics and resupply mission. This was the 94th flight in the Space Shuttle program and the 26th for Discovery, also marking the 47th at KSC, the 24th in the last 25 missions, 11th at night, and the 18th consecutive landing in Florida.

Training is required to correctly interpret NVG imagery. Training night operations with simulated intensified imagery has great potential. Compared to direct viewing with the naked eye, intensified imagery is relatively easy to simulate and the cost of real NVG training is high (logistics, risk, civilian sleep deprivation, pollution). On the surface NVG imagery appears to have a structure similar to daylight imagery. However, in actuality its characteristics differ significantly from those of daylight imagery. As a result, NVG imagery frequently induces visual illusions. To achieve realistic training, simulated NVG imagery should at least reproduce the essential visual limitations of real NVG imagery caused by reduced resolution, reduced contrast, limited field-of-view, the absence of color, and the systems sensitivity to nearby infrared radiation. It is particularly important that simulated NVG imagery represents essential NVG visual characteristics, such as the high reflection of chlorophyll and halos. Current real-time simulation software falls short for training purposes because of an incorrect representation of shadow effects. We argue that the development of shading and shadowing merits priority to close the gap between real and simulated NVG flight conditions. Visual conspicuity can be deployed as an efficient metric to measure the 'perceptual distance' between the real NVG and the simulated NVG image.

LV diastolic vortex formation has been suggested to critically contribute to efficient blood pumping function, while altered vortex formation has been associated with LV pathologies. Therefore, quantitative characterization of vortex flow might provide a novel objective tool for evaluating LV function. The objectives of this study were 1) assess feasibility of vortex flow analysis during both early and late diastolic filling in vivo in normal subjects using 4D Flow cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) with retrospective cardiac gating and 3D vortex core analysis 2) establish normal quantitative parameters characterizing 3D LV vortex flow during both early and late ventricular filling in normal subjects. With full ethical approval, twenty-four healthy volunteers (mean age: 20±10 years) underwent whole-heart 4D Flow CMR. The Lambda2-method was used to extract 3D LV vortex ring cores from the blood flow velocity field during early (E) and late (A) diastolic filling. The 3D location of the center of vortex ring core was characterized using cylindrical cardiac coordinates (Circumferential, Longitudinal (L), Radial (R)). Comparison between E and A filling was done with a paired T-test. The orientation of the vortex ring core was measured and the ring shape was quantified by the circularity index (CI). Finally, the Spearman's correlation between the shapes of mitral inflow pattern and formed vortex ring cores was tested. Distinct E- and A-vortex ring cores were observed with centers of A-vortex rings significantly closer to the mitral valve annulus (E-vortex L=0.19±0.04 versus A-vortex L=0.15±0.05; p=0.0001), closer to the ventricle's long-axis (E-vortex: R=0.27±0.07, A-vortex: R=0.20±0.09, p=0.048) and more elliptical in shape (E-vortex: CI=0.79±0.09, A-vortex: CI=0.57±0.06; <0.001) compared to E-vortex. The circumferential location and orientation relative to LV long-axis for both E- and A-vortex ring cores were similar. Good to strong correlation was found

Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) is widely distributed in the western USA. We report the lack of stomatal closure at night in early summer for ponderosa pine at two of three sites investigated. Trees at a third site with lower nitrogen dioxide and nitric acid exposure, but greater drought stress, had slightly open stomata at night in early summer but closed stomata at night for the rest of the summer. The three sites had similar background ozone exposure during the summer of measurement (2001). Nighttime stomatal conductance (gs) ranged from one tenth to one fifth that of maximum daytime values. In general, pole-sized trees (< 40 years old) had greater nighttime gs than mature trees (> 250 years old). In late summer, nighttime gs was low (< 3.0 mmol H2O m(-2) s(-1)) for both tree size classes at all sites. Measurable nighttime gs has also been reported in other conifers, but the values we observed were higher. In June, nighttime ozone (O3) uptake accounted for 9, 5 and 3% of the total daily O3 uptake of pole-sized trees from west to east across the San Bernardino Mountains. In late summer, O3 uptake at night was < 2% of diel uptake at all sites. Nocturnal O3 uptake may contribute to greater oxidant injury development, especially in pole-sized trees in early summer.

Free time, work and background data were related to night-rest catecholamine excretion rates in a teacher group (n = 137) during an autumn term. The explained interindividual variance increased slightly towards the end of the term. Adrenaline excretion was predicted better than noradrenaline, notedly by coffee consumption, amount of physical activity, and subjective stress feelings which explained 16% of the variance in adrenaline excretion during night rest. However, the results indicated that the differences in catecholamine excretion during night rest remained mostly unpredictable.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed on blind adults resting and reading Braille. The strongest activation was found in primary somatic sensory/motor cortex on both cortical hemispheres. Additional foci of activation were situated in the parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes where visual information is processed in sighted persons. The regions were differentiated most in the correlation of their time courses of activation with resting and reading. Differences in magnitude and expanse of activation were substantially less significant. Among the traditionally visual areas, the strength of correlation was greatest in posterior parietal cortex and moderate in occipitotemporal, lateral occipital, and primary visual cortex. It was low in secondary visual cortex as well as in dorsal and ventral inferior temporal cortex and posterior middle temporal cortex. Visual experience increased the strength of correlation in all regions except dorsal inferior temporal and posterior parietal cortex. The greatest statistically significant increase, i.e., approximately 30%, was in ventral inferior temporal and posterior middle temporal cortex. In these regions, words are analyzed semantically, which may be facilitated by visual experience. In contrast, visual experience resulted in a slight, insignificant diminution of the strength of correlation in dorsal inferior temporal cortex where language is analyzed phonetically. These findings affirm that posterior temporal regions are engaged in the processing of written language. Moreover, they suggest that this function is modified by early visual experience. Furthermore, visual experience significantly strengthened the correlation of activation and Braille reading in occipital regions traditionally involved in the processing of visual features and object recognition suggesting a role for visual imagery. Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

NDS theory has been meaningfully applied to the dynamics of creativity and psychology. These complex systems have much in common, including a broad definition of "product" as new order emerging from disorder, a new whole (etymologically, 'health') out of disintegration or destabilization. From a nonlinear dynamical systems perspective, this paper explores the far-from-equilibrium zone of creative incubation: first in the Jungian night sea journey, a primordial myth of psychological and creative transformation; then in the neuroscience of mind wandering, the well-spring of creative ideation within the larger neural matrix. Finally, chaos theory grounds the elusive subject of creativity, modeling chaotic generation of idea elements that tend toward strange attractors, combine unpredictably, and produce change by means of tension between opposites, particularly notes consciousness (light) and the poetic unconscious (darkness). Examples from my own artwork illustrate this dialectical process. Considered together, the unconscious mythic sea journey, the unknowing wandering mind, and the generative paradigm of deterministic chaos suggest conditions that facilitate creativity across disciplines, providing fresh indications that the darkness of the unknown or irrational is, paradoxically, the illuminative source and strength of creativity.

To investigate the effect of laser refractive surgery on night weapons firing. Firing range performance was measured at baseline and postoperatively following photorefractive keratectomy and laser in situ keratomileusis. Subjects fired the M-16A2 rifle with night vision goggles (NVG) at starlight, and with iron sight (simulated dusk). Scores, before and after surgery, were compared for both conditions. No subject was able to acquire the target using iron sight without correction before surgery. After surgery, the scores without correction (95.9 +/- 4.7) matched the preoperative scores with correction (94.3 +/- 4.0; p = 0.324). Uncorrected NVG scores after surgery (96.4 +/- 3.1) exceeded the corrected scores before surgery (91.4 +/- 10.2), but this trend was not statistically significant (p = 0.063). Night weapon firing with both the iron sight and the NVG sight improved after surgery. This study supports the operational benefits of refractive surgery in the military.

A previous experimental study showed that the cortisol response upon awakening was reduced following nights with low-frequency noise exposure. This study comprised a larger number of subjects and an extended period of acclimatisation nights. In total, 26 male subjects slept during five consecutive nights in a sleep laboratory. Half of the subjects were exposed to low-frequency noise (40 dBA) on the 4th night and had their reference night (24 dBA) on the 5th night, while the reverse conditions were present for the other half of the group. Subjective sleep disturbances were recorded by questionnaires and cortisol response upon awakening was measured in saliva. The results showed that subjects were more tired and felt less socially orientated in the morning after nights with low-frequency noise. Mood was negatively affected in the evening after nights with low-frequency noise. No effect of noise condition was found on the cortisol secretion. There was a significant effect of group and weekday, indicating that further methodological developments are necessary before saliva cortisol secretion can be reliably used as an indicator of noise-disturbed sleep.

An assessment of bio-radiolocation monitoring of respiratory rhythm during sleep is given. Full-night respiratory inductance plethysmography (RIP) and bio-radiolocation (BRL) records were collected simultaneously in a sleep laboratory. Polysomnography data from 5 subjects without sleep breathing disorders were used. A multi-frequency bioradar with step frequency modulation was applied. It has 8 operating frequencies ranging from 3.6 to 4.0 GHz. BRL data are recorded in two quadratures. Respiratory cycles were detected in time domain. Obtained data was used for the evaluation of correlation between BRL and RIP respiration rate estimates. Strong correlation between corresponding time series was revealed. BRL method is reliably implemented for estimation of respiratory rhythm and respiratory rate variability during full night sleep.

Parents and families have the greatest influence on children's attitudes towards education and career choices. If students' attitudes towards science, particularly the physical sciences, are not influenced positively by parental/familial attitudes, efforts to improve the quality of content and teaching of these subjects in school may be futile. Research shows that parental involvement increases student achievement outcomes, and family-oriented programs have a direct impact on student performance. Based on this premise, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center started a series of Family Science Nights for middle school students and their families. The program provides a non-threatening venue for families to explore the importance of science and technology in our daily lives by engaging in learning activities that change their perception and understanding of science - making it more practical and approachable for participants of all ages. Family Science Night strives to change the way that students and their families participate in science, within the program and beyond.

To determine whether individual differences in dark focus and convergence accommodation to convergence (CA/C) ratio can be used to prescribe the best optical correction for night myopia. The best correction for night myopia was obtained by measuring visual acuity and contrast sensitivity across a range of lens powers and luminances. Dark focus was measured with an infrared optometer, and CA/C ratio was measured with an infrared optometer and eyetracker. Only young subjects were used (mean age = 25.4 years). Optimal lens power was significantly correlated with dark focus, regardless of CA/C ratio. However, the slope of the regression line relating lens power to dark focus was steeper for subjects with CA/C ratios less than 0.4 diopters/meter angle (D/MA, n = 7) than for subjects with CA/C ratios greater than 0.4 D/MA (n = 9). The mean CA/C ratio for the entire sample (n = 16) was 0.59 D/MA. The mean optimal lens power and dark focus were -0.79 and 0.74 D, respectively, for the low CA/C group, and -0.60 and 0.91 D, respectively, for the high CA/C group. Visual performance in night myopia can be optimized by taking into account intersubject differences in dark focus and CA/C ratio. Best visual performance was found with a lens roughly equaling the full dark focus for subjects with low CA/C ratios and half the dark focus for subjects with high CA/C ratios.

To explore the possible mechanisms for improving lower extremity motor function in patients with early stroke through combining magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) technology and functional electrical stimulation (FES) based on human walking patterns. From August 2012 to September 2013, a total of 48 eligible patients were stratified according to age, gender, disease course, Brunnstrom staging and types of stroke. And the Minimize software was used to divided them randomly into four-channel FES group (n = 18), dual-channel FES group (n = 15) and comfort stimulation group (n = 15). For all three groups, general medication and standard rehabilitation were provided. Based on normal walking pattern design of FES treatment, four-channel FES groups received the stimulations of quadriceps, hamstring, anterior tibialis and medial gastrocnemius. For the dual-channel FES group, the stimulations of tibialis anterior, peroneus longus and peroneus brevis muscles were applied. In comfort electrical stimulation group, the electrode positions were identical to the stimulation group, but there was no current output during stimulation. Before and after 3-week treatment, three groups received weekly rehabilitation evaluations of Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA), posture assessment of stroke scale (PASS), Brunel balance assessment (BBA), Berg balance scale (BBS) and modified Barthel index (MBI). Before and after treatment, DTI examination was performed for some patients. Among three groups, general patient profiles and pre-treatment evaluations showed no significant difference. For intra-group comparisons versus pre-treatment, at week 1, 2 and 3, the scores of PASS, BBA, BBS, FMA and MBI had statistically significant differences (P < 0.05); At week 3 post-treatment, when four-channel and double-channel FES groups were compared versus pre-treatment, the scores of ipsilateral FA had statistically significant differences (P < 0.05). At week 1 post-treatment, MBI had

This nighttime thermal infrared image, taken by the thermal emission imaging system on NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, shows differences in temperature that are due to differences in the abundance of rocks, sand and dust on the surface. Rocks remain warm at night, as seen in the warm (bright) rim of the five kilometer (three mile) diameter crater located on the right of this image.

The sinuous channel floor is cold, suggesting that it is covered by material that is more finely grained than the surrounding plains. The interior of the crater shows a great deal of thermal structure, indicating that the distribution of rocks, sand and dust varies across the floor.

The presence of rocks on the rim and inner wall indicates that this crater maintains some of its original character, despite erosion and deposition by Martian winds. Nighttime infrared images such as this one will greatly aid in mapping the physical properties of Mars' surface.

This image is centered at 2 degrees north, 0.4 degrees west, and was acquired at about 3:15 a.m. local Martian time. North is to the right of the image.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The thermal emission imaging system was provided by Arizona State University, Tempe. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis turns night into day for a few moments as it lifts off on May 15 at 4:07:48 a.m. EDT from Launch Pad 39A on the STS-84 mission. The fourth Shuttle mission of 1997 will be the sixth docking of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station Mir. The commander is Charles J. Precourt. The pilot is Eileen Marie Collins. The five mission specialists are C. Michael Foale, Carlos I. Noriega, Edward Tsang Lu, Jean-Francois Clervoy of the European Space Agency and Elena V. Kondakova of the Russian Space Agency. The planned nine-day mission will include the exchange of Foale for U.S. astronaut and Mir 23 crew member Jerry M. Linenger, who has been on Mir since Jan. 15. Linenger transferred to Mir during the last docking mission, STS-81; he will return to Earth on Atlantis. Foale is slated to remain on Mir for about four months until he is replaced in September by STS-86 Mission Specialist Wendy B. Lawrence. During the five days Atlantis is scheduled to be docked with the Mir, the STS-84 crew and the Mir 23 crew, including two Russian cosmonauts, Commander Vasily Tsibliev and Flight Engineer Alexander Lazutkin, will participate in joint experiments. The STS-84 mission also will involve the transfer of more than 7,300 pounds of water, logistics and science equipment to and from the Mir. Atlantis is carrying a nearly 300-pound oxygen generator to replace one of two Mir units which have experienced malfunctions. The oxygen it generates is used for breathing by the Mir crew.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis turns night into day for a few moments as it lifts off on May 15 at 4:07:48 a.m. EDT from Launch Pad 39A on the STS-84 mission. The fourth Shuttle mission of 1997 will be the sixth docking of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station Mir. The commander is Charles J. Precourt. The pilot is Eileen Marie Collins. The five mission specialists are C. Michael Foale, Carlos I. Noriega, Edward Tsang Lu, Jean-Francois Clervoy of the European Space Agency and Elena V. Kondakova of the Russian Space Agency. The planned nine-day mission will include the exchange of Foale for U.S. astronaut and Mir 23 crew member Jerry M. Linenger, who has been on Mir since Jan. 15. Linenger transferred to Mir during the last docking mission, STS-81; he will return to Earth on Atlantis. Foale is slated to remain on Mir for about four months until he is replaced in September by STS-86 Mission Specialist Wendy B. Lawrence. During the five days Atlantis is scheduled to be docked with the Mir, the STS-84 crew and the Mir 23 crew, including two Russian cosmonauts, Commander Vasily Tsibliev and Flight Engineer Alexander Lazutkin, will participate in joint experiments. The STS-84 mission also will involve the transfer of more than 7,300 pounds of water, logistics and science equipment to and from the Mir. Atlantis is carrying a nearly 300-pound oxygen generator to replace one of two Mir units which have experienced malfunctions. The oxygen it generates is used for breathing by the Mir crew.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis turns night into day for a few moments as it lifts off on May 15 at 4:07:48 a.m. EDT from Launch Pad 39A on the STS-84 mission. The fourth Shuttle mission of 1997 will be the sixth docking of the Space Shuttle with the Russian Space Station Mir. The commander is Charles J. Precourt. The pilot is Eileen Marie Collins. The five mission specialists are C. Michael Foale, Carlos I. Noriega, Edward Tsang Lu, Jean-Francois Clervoy of the European Space Agency and Elena V. Kondakova of the Russian Space Agency. The planned nine-day mission will include the exchange of Foale for U.S. astronaut and Mir 23 crew member Jerry M. Linenger, who has been on Mir since Jan. 15. Linenger transferred to Mir during the last docking mission, STS-81; he will return to Earth on Atlantis. Foale is slated to remain on Mir for about four months until he is replaced in September by STS-86 Mission Specialist Wendy B. Lawrence. During the five days Atlantis is scheduled to be docked with the Mir, the STS-84 crew and the Mir 23 crew, including two Russian cosmonauts, Commander Vasily Tsibliev and Flight Engineer Alexander Lazutkin, will participate in joint experiments. The STS-84 mission also will involve the transfer of more than 7,300 pounds of water, logistics and science equipment to and from the Mir. Atlantis is carrying a nearly 300-pound oxygen generator to replace one of two Mir units which have experienced malfunctions. The oxygen it generates is used for breathing by the Mir crew.

The BH3-only pro-apoptotic proteins are upstream sensors of cellular damage that selectively respond to specific, proximal death and survival signals. Genetic models and biochemical studies indicate that these molecules are latent killers until activated through transcriptional or post-translational mechanisms in a tissue-restricted and signal-specific manner. The large number of BH3-only proteins, their unique subcellular localization, protein-interaction network and diverse modes of activation suggest specialization of their damage-sensing function, ensuring that the core apoptotic machinery is poised to receive input from a wide range of cellular stress signals. The apoptotic response initiated by the activation of BH3-only proteins ultimately culminates in allosteric activation of pro-apoptotic BAX and BAK, the gateway proteins to the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. From activation of BH3-only proteins to oligomerization of BAX and BAK and mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization, an intricate network of interactions between the pro- and anti-apoptotic members of the BCL-2 family orchestrates the decision to undergo apoptosis. Beyond regulation of apoptosis, multiple BCL-2 proteins have recently emerged as active components of select homeostatic pathways carrying other cellular functions. This review focuses on BAD, which was the first BH3-only protein linked to proximal survival signals through phosphorylation by survival kinases. In addition to findings that delineated the physiological role of BAD in apoptosis and its dynamic regulation by phosphorylation, studies pointing to new roles for this protein in other physiological pathways, such as glucose metabolism, are highlighted. By executing its 'day' and 'night' jobs in metabolism and apoptosis, respectively, BAD helps coordinate mitochondrial fuel metabolism and the apoptotic machinery.

Background There is convincing evidence that circadian disruption mediated by exposure to light at night promotes mammary carcinogenesis in rodents. The role that light at night plays in human breast cancer etiology remains unknown. We evaluated the relationship between estimates of indoor and outdoor light at night and the risk of breast cancer among members of the California Teachers Study. Methods Indoor light-at-night estimates were based on questionnaire data regarding sleep habits and use of night time lighting while sleeping. Estimates of outdoor light at night were derived from imagery data obtained from the U.S. Defense Meteorological Satellite Program assigned to geocoded addresses of study participants. Analyses were conducted among 106,731 California Teachers Study members who lived in California, had no prior history of breast cancer, and provided information on lighting while sleeping. 5,095 cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed 1995–2010 were identified via linkage to the California Cancer Registry. We used age-stratified Cox proportional hazard models to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusting for breast cancer risk factors and neighborhood urbanization and socioeconomic class. Results An increased risk was found for women living in areas with the highest quintile of outdoor light at night exposure estimates (HR=1.12 [95% CI=1.00 – 1.26], test for trend, P=0.06). While more pronounced among premenopausal women (HR=1.34 [95% CI=1.07 – 1.69], test for trend, P=0.04), the associations did not differ statistically by menopausal status (test for interaction, P=0.34). Conclusions Women living in areas with high levels of ambient light at night may be at an increased risk of breast cancer. Future studies that integrate quantitative measurements of indoor and outdoor light at night are warranted. PMID:25061924

The citizen-science program on light pollution, GLOBE at Night, has had rich responses during this year's campaign in March 2009. Reporting on some of the highlights, we will hear success stories and lessons learned from educators, students, science centers and astronomy clubs from around the world. Communities will be featured from several cities, such Norman, Oklahoma, Mishawaka, Indiana, Willimantic, Connecticut, and Waynesville, Ohio, which created mini-campaigns that combined local students with public advocates and representatives from local city and county governments. Connecticut kids collaborated with students in Wales, Canada and Romania on GLOBE at Night, and an extensive campaign was planned with the schools near the observatories of north-central Chile. Groups that have received special training in GLOBE at Night and related activities include the "Astronomy from the Ground Up” network of science and nature centers (fostered by the ASP and the NSF), 146 amateur astronomers who are part of the ASP-NASA Night-Sky Network, and the Association of Science-Technology Centers. Special training was given over forums, telecon-powerpoint presentations and blogs, to fit the needs of the communities. Among the more interesting media efforts for the general public, GLOBE at Night was the topic of the March 6 episode of the IYA2009 "Days of Astronomy" podcast. International organizing efforts for GLOBE at Night have been strong in countries like Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom, to name a few. We will also discuss how cities, such as Tucson, Arizona, combined efforts on GLOBE at Night with involvement in the World Wildlife Fund's Earth Hour event (www.earthhour.org). Earth Hour encouraged everyone to turn out their lights from 8:30-9:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, March 28, the final night of GLOBE at Night 2009.

The 12 h shift schedule is widely used in clean rooms for electronic semiconductor production in Taiwan. This study investigated the associations of obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) components among women working in a semiconductor manufacturing factory in North Taiwan. Workers were divided into four groups according to their work schedules and duties (i.e., office workers, day workers, fixed 12 h day shift, and fixed 12 h night shiftworkers). The subjects comprised 1838 women who voluntarily attended a health examination between August 2006 and November 2006. Their mean (+/-SD) age was 33.6 (+/-7.1) yrs and their mean duration of work was 7.4 (+/-5.2) yrs. Each subject's health-related behaviors, body mass index, and MetS components were measured and analyzed using multivariate logistic regression. Obesity and MetS were defined according to World Health Organization criteria for Asian populations and the National Cholesterol Educational Program and Adult Treatment Panel III Guidelines, respectively. The results showed that women working in the clean room on fixed 12 h night shifts had significantly elevated odds ratios for obesity (OR, 2.7; 95% CI, 1.6-4.5), central obesity (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.7-5.1), and high blood pressure (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.2-4.4) compared to female office workers; these results persisted after adjusting for age, smoking, drinking, education, and duration of work. We did not find any significant differences in triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol among women working different schedules. We conclude that working fixed 12 h night shifts was associated with an increased odds ratio for obesity, central obesity, and high blood pressure among clean-room women workers. Weight reduction and blood pressure control programs should be implemented in the workplace for women working fixed 12 h night shifts.

Background Physicians in training experience fatigue from sleep loss, high workload, and working at an adverse phase of the circadian rhythm, which collectively degrades task performance and the ability to learn and remember. To minimize fatigue and sustain performance, learning, and memory, humans generally need 7 to 8 hours of sleep in every 24-hour period. Methods In a naturalistic, within-subjects design, we studied 17 first- and second-year internal medicine residents working in a tertiary care medical center, rotating between day shift and night float every 4 weeks. We studied each resident for 2 weeks while he/she worked the day shift and for 2 weeks while he/she worked the night float, objectively measuring sleep by wrist actigraphy, vigilance by the Psychomotor Vigilance Task test, and visual-spatial and verbal learning and memory by the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised and the Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test. Results Residents, whether working day shift or night float, slept approximately 7 hours in every 24-hour period. Residents, when working day shift, consolidated their sleep into 1 main sleep period at night. Residents working night float split their sleep, supplementing their truncated daytime sleep with nighttime on-duty naps. There was no difference in vigilance or learning and memory, whether residents worked day shift or night float. Conclusions Off-duty sleep supplemented with naps while on duty appears to be an effective strategy for sustaining vigilance, learning, and memory when working night float. PMID:24455014

Bright nocturnal light has been known to suppress melatonin secretion. However, bright light exposure during the day-time might reduce light-induced melatonin suppression (LIMS) at night. The effective proportion of day-time light to night-time light is unclear; however, only a few studies on accurately controlling both day- and night-time conditions have been conducted. This study aims to evaluate the effect of different day-time light intensities on LIMS. Twelve male subjects between the ages of 19 and 23 years (mean ± S.D., 20.8 ± 1.1) gave informed consent to participate in this study. They were exposed to various light conditions (<10, 100, 300, 900 and 2700 lx) between the hours of 09:00 and 12:00 (day-time light conditions). They were then exposed to bright light (300 lx) again between 01:00 and 02:30 (night-time light exposure). They provided saliva samples before (00:55) and after night-time light exposure (02:30). A one-tailed paired t test yielded significant decrements of melatonin concentration after night-time light exposure under day-time dim, 100- and 300-lx light conditions. No significant differences exist in melatonin concentration between pre- and post-night-time light exposure under day-time 900- and 2700-lx light conditions. Present findings suggest the amount of light exposure needed to prevent LIMS caused by ordinary nocturnal light in individuals who have a general life rhythm (sleep/wake schedule). These findings may be useful in implementing artificial light environments for humans in, for example, hospitals and underground shopping malls.

Physicians in training experience fatigue from sleep loss, high workload, and working at an adverse phase of the circadian rhythm, which collectively degrades task performance and the ability to learn and remember. To minimize fatigue and sustain performance, learning, and memory, humans generally need 7 to 8 hours of sleep in every 24-hour period. In a naturalistic, within-subjects design, we studied 17 first- and second-year internal medicine residents working in a tertiary care medical center, rotating between day shift and night float every 4 weeks. We studied each resident for 2 weeks while he/she worked the day shift and for 2 weeks while he/she worked the night float, objectively measuring sleep by wrist actigraphy, vigilance by the Psychomotor Vigilance Task test, and visual-spatial and verbal learning and memory by the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised and the Rey Auditory-Verbal Learning Test. Residents, whether working day shift or night float, slept approximately 7 hours in every 24-hour period. Residents, when working day shift, consolidated their sleep into 1 main sleep period at night. Residents working night float split their sleep, supplementing their truncated daytime sleep with nighttime on-duty naps. There was no difference in vigilance or learning and memory, whether residents worked day shift or night float. Off-duty sleep supplemented with naps while on duty appears to be an effective strategy for sustaining vigilance, learning, and memory when working night float.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) will be coordinating extensive activities to raise awareness of light pollution through running the Cosmic Light theme of the International Year of Light (IYL2015) and by partnering in particular with the popular Globe at Night program.Globe at Night (www.globeatnight.org) is an international campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by having people measure night-sky brightness and submit observations in real-time with smart phone or later with a computer. In 2015, Globe at Night will run for 10-nights each month, an hour after sunset til before the Moon rises. Students can use the data to monitor levels of light pollution around the world, as well as understand light pollution's effects on energy consumption, plants, wildlife, human health and our ability to enjoy a starry night sky.Since its inception in 2006, more than 115,000 measurements from 115 countries have been reported. The last 9 years of data can be explored with Globe at Night's interactive world map or with the 'map app' to view a particular area. A spreadsheet of the data is downloadable from any year. One can compare Globe at Night data with a variety of other databases to see, for example, how light pollution affects the foraging habits of bats.To encourage public participation in Globe at Night during IYL2015, each month will target an area of the world that habitually contributes during that time. Special concerns for how light pollution affects that area and solutions will be featured on the Globe at Night website (www.globeatnight.org), through its Facebook page, in its newsletter or in the 365DaysofAstronomy.org podcasts.Twice during IYL there will be a global Flash Mob event, one on Super Pi Day (March 14, 2015) and a second in mid-September, where the public will be invited to take night-sky brightness measurements en masse. In April, the International Dark-Sky Week hosted by the International Dark-Sky Association will be

The clinical symptoms of Alzheimer disease (AD) include a gradual memory loss and subsequent dementia, and neuropathological deposition of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. At the molecular level, AD subjects present overt amyloid β (Aβ) production and tau hyperphosphorylation. Aβ species have been proposed to overactivate the phosphoinositide3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) axis, which plays a central role in proteostasis. The current study investigated the status of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in post-mortem tissue from the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) at three different stages of AD: late AD, amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and pre-clinical AD (PCAD). Our findings suggest that the alteration of mTOR signaling and autophagy occurs at early stages of AD. We found a significant increase in Aβ (1-42) levels, associated with reduction in autophagy (Beclin-1 and LC-3) observed in PCAD, MCI, and AD subjects. Related to the autophagy impairment, we found a hyperactivation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway in IPL of MCI and AD subjects, but not in PCAD, along with a significant decrease in phosphatase and tensin homolog. An increase in two mTOR downstream targets, p70S6K and 4EBP1, occurred in AD and MCI subjects. Both AD and MCI subjects showed increased, insulin receptor substrate 1, a candidate biomarker of brain insulin resistance, and GSK-3β, a kinase targeting tau phosphorylation. Nevertheless, tau phosphorylation was increased in the clinical groups. The results hint at a link between Aβ and the PI3K/Akt/mTOR axis and provide further insights into the relationship between AD pathology and insulin resistance. In addition, we speculate that the alteration of mTOR signaling in the IPL of AD and MCI subjects, but not in PCAD, is due to the lack of substantial increase in oxidative stress. The figure represents the three different stages of Alzheimer Disease: Preclinical Alzheimer Disease (PCAD), Mild cognitive impairment (MCI

How can pupils and parents be engaged in science? This author describes holding an astronomy evening with Dr. Johanna Jarvis to coincide with the BBC's "Stargazing Live." The author briefly shares an account of the success of this first of many evening events. Engaging pupils in science at an early age has the potential to change social…

This study aimed to investigate sleep and circadian phase in the relationships between neurobehavioral performance and the number of consecutive shifts worked. Thirty-four shift workers [20 men, mean age 31.8 (SD 10.9) years] worked 2-7 consecutive night shifts immediately prior to a laboratory-based, simulated night shift. For 7 days prior, participants worked their usual shift sequence, and sleep was assessed with logs and actigraphy. Participants completed a 10-minute auditory psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) at the start (~21:00 hours) and end (~07:00 hours) of the simulated night shift. Mean reaction times (RT), number of lapses and RT distribution was compared between those who worked 2-3 consecutive night shifts versus those who worked 4-7 shifts. Following 4-7 shifts, night shift workers had significantly longer mean RT at the start and end of shift, compared to those who worked 2-3 shifts. The slowest and fastest 10% RT were significantly slower at the start, but not end, of shift among participants who worked 4-7 nights. Those working 4-7 nights also demonstrated a broader RT distribution at the start and end of shift and had significantly slower RT based on cumulative distribution analysis (5 (th), 25 (th), 50 (th), 75 (th)percentiles at the start of shift; 75th percentile at the end of shift). No group differences in sleep parameters were found for 7 days and 24 hours prior to the simulated night shift. A greater number of consecutive night shifts has a negative impact on neurobehavioral performance, likely due to cognitive slowing.

Nursing care provided at night has a different purpose and objective to that provided during the day. A review of the literature does not reveal any scientifically tested research instruments for evaluating and comparing the nurse's assessment of nursing care with the patient's perception at night. The aim of this study was to develop and test an instrument for evaluating nursing care and to compare nurses' assessments with patients' perceptions of nursing care provided at night. The study was carried out in two phases; the first had an explorative design and the second an evaluative and comparative design. The Night Nursing Care Instrument (NNCI) included two questionnaires; one for nurses and one for patients. These questionnaires were developed from a nursing framework and covered the following three areas: 'nursing interventions', 'medical interventions' and 'evaluation'. Nurses (n = 40) on night duty on a medical ward at a central hospital in southern Sweden were consecutively selected, to participate in the study. The patients (n = 80) were selected by means of convenience sampling. In order to achieve construct validity, factor analysis of each individual area was carried out. Reliability in terms of internal consistency was tested by Cronbach's alpha. The overall NNCI had acceptable reliability and validity. There was no statistically significant difference between nurses' assessments and patients' perceptions in any of the three areas of 'nursing interventions', 'medical interventions' or 'evaluation'. The patients rated night nursing care as satisfactory for the majority of the items. These findings demonstrate that it is possible to create a short instrument with acceptable reliability and validity, which is easy to use in clinical practice. The results also show that night nurses need to improve their ability to assess patients' needs during the night to increase the quality of night nursing care.

Numbers of night driving accident in Indonesia since 2010 are exponentially rising each year with total of loss more than 50 billion rupiah. One of the causes that contribute to night driving accident is drowsiness. Drowsiness is affected by circadian rhythm resulted from the difference of blue light quality and quantity between night and day. Blue light may effect on human physiology through non-visual pathway by suppressing melatonin hormone suppression that influence drowsiness. Meanwhile, the production of hormones and other activities in brain generate bioelectrical activity such as brainwaves and can be recorded using Electroencephalograph (EEG). Therefore, this research objective is to evaluate the effect of blue light exposure to beta brainwave emergence during night driving simulation to a driver. This research was conducted to 4 male subjects who are able to drive and have a legitimate car driving license. The driving simulator was done using SCANIA Truck Driving Simulator on freeform driving mode in dark environment. Subjects drove for total 32 minutes. The data collections were taken in 2 days with 16 minutes for each day. The 16 minutes were divided again into 8 minutes adaptation in dark and 8 minutes for driving either in blue light exposure or in total darkness. While driving the simulation, subjects' brainwaves were recorded using EEG EMOTIV 14 Channels, exposed by LED monochromatic blue light with 160 Lux from source and angle 45o and sat 1 m in front of the screen. Channels used on this research were for visual (O1; O2), cognition (F3; F4; P7; P8), and motor (FC5; FC6). EEG brainwave result was filtered with EEGLab to obtain beta waves at 13 - 30 Hz frequencies. Results showed that beta waves response to blue light varied for each subject. Blue light exposure either increased or decreased beta waves in 2 minutes pattern and maintaining beta waves on cognition and motor area in 3 out of 4 subjects. Meanwhile, blue light exposure did not maintain

Night pain is a particularly vexing symptom in patients with rotator cuff tear. It disturbs sleep and decreases quality of life, and there is no consensus regarding its etiology. Based on arthroscopic surgical observations of synovitis around the rotator interval or capsule surface in rotator cuff tear, we hypothesized that blood flow from the artery feeding the capsule increases blood supply to the synovium. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between blood flow and night pain using pulse Doppler ultrasonography. A series of 47 consecutive patients with rotator cuff tear was evaluated. The peak systolic velocity and resistance index of blood flow in the ascending branch of the anterior humeral circumflex artery were evaluated using pulse Doppler ultrasonography. We also investigated 20 normal shoulders in healthy volunteers. The peak systolic velocity and resistance index were compared between affected and unaffected sides in patients and between dominant and nondominant sides in controls. Anterior humeral circumflex artery peak systolic velocity and resistance index did not differ between sides in control subjects or in patients with rotator cuff tear without night pain. However, anterior humeral circumflex artery peak systolic velocity and resistance index did differ significantly between sides in patients with rotator cuff tear with night pain. This study revealed anterior humeral circumflex artery hemodynamics in patients with rotator cuff tear and normal subjects using Doppler ultrasonography. Night pain, particularly involving aching, appears to be related to the hemodynamics. These findings suggest that investigating the hemodynamics of patients with rotator cuff tear with night pain may lead to greater understanding of the etiology of this symptom.

Prasinoviruses are large DNA viruses that infect diverse genera of green microalgae worldwide in aquatic ecosystems, but molecular knowledge of their life cycles is lacking. Several complete genomes of both these viruses and their marine algal hosts are now available and have been used to show the pervasive presence of these species in microbial metagenomes. We have analyzed the life cycle of Ostreococcus tauri virus 5 (OtV5), a lytic virus, using transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) from 12 time points of healthy or infected Ostreococcus tauri cells over a day/night cycle in culture. In the day, viral gene transcription remained low while host nitrogen metabolism gene transcription was initially strongly repressed for two successive time points before being induced for 8 h, but during the night, viral transcription increased steeply while host nitrogen metabolism genes were repressed and many host functions that are normally reduced in the dark appeared to be compensated either by genes expressed from the virus or by increased expression of a subset of 4.4% of the host's genes. Some host cells underwent lysis progressively during the night, but a larger proportion were lysed the following morning. Our data suggest that the life cycles of algal viruses mirror the diurnal rhythms of their hosts. IMPORTANCE Prasinoviruses are common in marine environments, and although several complete genomes of these viruses and their hosts have been characterized, little is known about their life cycles. Here we analyze in detail the transcriptional changes occurring over a 27-h-long experiment in a natural diurnal rhythm, in which the growth of host cells is to some extent synchronized, so that host DNA replication occurs late in the day or early in the night and cell division occurs during the night. Surprisingly, viral transcription remains quiescent over the daytime, when the most energy (from light) is available, but during the night viral transcription activates, accompanied

This executive summary describes an investigation into the performance of pavement markings in wet night conditions. The performance of a typical pavement marking will degrade when it gets wet. This is a result of the flooding of the marking optics, ...

Describes one teacher's methods for introducing to secondary English students the concepts of improvisation, experimentation, and innovation. Discusses numerous techniques for fostering such skills when working with William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." (HB)

Through a literature review and discussions with highway and transportation officials in several states, information was obtained on questions and concerns relating to the planning, safety, and traffic control aspects of night maintenance and constru...

Sustainable mobility is a major public concern, making increased safety one of the major challenges for the car of the future. About half of all serious traffic accidents occur at night, while only a minority of journeys is at night. Reduced visibility is one of the main reasons for these striking statistics and this explains the interest of the automobile industry in Enhanced Night Vision Systems. As an answer to the need for high volume, low cost optics for these applications, Umicore has developed GASIR. This material is transparent in the NEAR and FAR infrared, and is mouldable into high quality finished spherical, aspherical and diffractive lenses. Umicore's GASIR moulded lenses are an ideal solution for thermal imaging for cars (Night Vision) and for sensing systems like pedestrian detection, collision avoidance, occupation detection, intelligent airbag systems etc.

The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope recently produced a map of the night sky. Out of 1873 new sources, nearly 600 were complete mysteries. In this week's ScienceCast, researchers speculate on the nature of the mystery objects.

During the past century the prevalence of light at night has increased in parallel with obesity rates. Dim light at night (dLAN) increases body mass in male mice. However, the effects of light at night on female body mass remain unspecified. Thus, female mice were exposed to a standard light/dark (LD; 16h light at ~150 lux/8h dark at ~0 lux) cycle or to light/dim light at night (dLAN; 16h light at ~150 lux/8h dim light at ~5 lux) cycles for six weeks. Females exposed to dLAN increased the rate of change in body mass compared to LD mice despite reduced total food intake during weeks five and six, suggesting that dLAN disrupted circadian rhythms resulting in deranged metabolism. PMID:25431079

... collapse boxes. Description Autosomal dominant congenital stationary night blindness is a disorder of the retina , which is the specialized tissue at the back of the eye that detects light and color. People with this condition typically have difficulty seeing ...

This study investigated the performance of pavement markings in wet night conditions. Typically, performance will decrease in wet conditions. The degradation is a result of flooding of the marking optics and a change in the optical media, thereby red...

This study aims to discuss possible reasons why research to date has not forged direct links between light at night, acute melatonin suppression or circadian disruption, and risks for disease. Data suggest that irregular light-dark patterns or light exposures at the wrong circadian time can lead to circadian disruption and disease risks. However, there remains an urgent need to: (1) specify light stimulus in terms of circadian rather than visual response; (2) when translating research from animals to humans, consider species-specific spectral and absolute sensitivities to light; (3) relate the characteristics of photometric measurement of light at night to the operational characteristics of the circadian system; and (4) examine how humans may be experiencing too little daytime light, not just too much light at night. To understand the health effects of light-induced circadian disruption, we need to measure and control light stimulus during the day and at night.

First night time launching of a Saturn I launch vehicle took place at 2:35 a.m., May 25, 1965, with the launch of the second Pegasus meteoroid detection satellite from Complex 37, Cape Kennedy, Florida.

The relationship between automobile traffic noise and the degree of disturbance experience experienced at night was explored through a random sample survey of 1600 individuals in rural and urban areas. The data obtained were used to establish threshold values.

This research project analyzed drivers eye scanning behavior at night when approaching signalized : and unsignalized intersections using the data from a head-mounted eye-tracking system during open road : driving on a prescribed route. During the ...

Thermal imaging is rightfully a real-world technology proven to bring confidence to daytime, night-time and all weather security surveillance. Automatic image processing intrusion detection algorithms are also a real world technology proven to bring confidence to system surveillance security solutions. Together, day, night and all weather video imagery sensors and automated intrusion detection software systems create the real power to protect early against crime, providing real-time global homeland protection, rather than simply being able to monitor and record activities for post event analysis. These solutions, whether providing automatic security system surveillance at airports (to automatically detect unauthorized aircraft takeoff andmore » landing activities) or at high risk private, public or government facilities (to automatically detect unauthorized people or vehicle intrusion activities) are on the move to provide end users the power to protect people, capital equipment and intellectual property against acts of vandalism and terrorism. As with any technology, infrared sensors and automatic image intrusion detection systems for global homeland security protection have clear technological strengths and limitations compared to other more common day and night vision technologies or more traditional manual man-in-the-loop intrusion detection security systems. This paper addresses these strength and limitation capabilities. False Alarm (FAR) and False Positive Rate (FPR) is an example of some of the key cust